


Fear The Walking Dead: After the Dam

by TheMDNA



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - The Walking Dead Fusion, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Dark, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Inspired by The Walking Dead, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2020-10-29 14:11:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20797907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMDNA/pseuds/TheMDNA
Summary: Description: Based on AMC’s ‘Fear The Walking Dead’, ‘Fear The Walking Dead: After the Dam’ takes place after the Season 3 finale of the TV series.Plot: Following the dam explosion, Madison is the only survivor we know of to be alive while the fates of the other characters is left unknown. We follow the story through the eyes of Madison Clark, who is determined on finding her loved ones. On the journey on finding her loved ones, Madison will face unexpected challenges in which some will turn for the better, and some for the worst.





	1. Day 69

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey of Madison after the aftermath of the dam begins.

(Madison narrating)

When the dead started walking, I was living in California, alongside my loved ones.

Everything went to madness so quickly that my eyes could not believe what I was seeing. It was something I had never witnessed or seen my entire life, nor has history ever recorded such a thing. Everyone became terrified and afraid, many were in disbelief because of fear... 

Mothers and fathers were seeing their children being mauled to death, the children were seeing their parents being broken and lost. Everyone ran for their lives, trying to survive and hope for a better place. My family was no different.

There were riots on the streets, people killing people; everyone had lost their minds because of the fear of death gripping their very being.

We then ran into the Salazar family: Daniel and his wife Grizelda, and their daughter Ofelia. They took us in and protected us for a time while the riots were happening.

Travis, my fiance, had a son of his own named Chris, from his former wife Liza, while I had my children, Nick and Alicia, from my deceased husband, Steven Clark.  
We united our two families together with the Salazars and went to seek safety.

The government then had set up quarantine zones in many areas in LA a few weeks into the disaster. We were placed into one of these quarantine zones.  
It was nine days when we started attempting to live a normal life, when soldiers came and took my son and Grizelda to a hospital controlled by the army. Liza, Travis’s ex-wife, was a nurse, they took her as well.

The soldiers thought Nick was sick, so they wanted to eliminate him, but one man was there, his name was Victor, Victor Strand. He saved my son and didn’t let the soldiers take him. We went to search for my son, and though we did find him, unfortunately Grizelda didn’t make it. We then rushed as far as we could from the hospital as the dead took over.

Our families bonded with Victor Strand and followed him to his mansion, where we stayed for a little bit.

Liza revealed to me that she was bit, and Travis found out and killed her, to prevent her from becoming one of the dead. Poor Chris did not take his mother’s death that well, causing a rift between father and son. 

Strand had a boat which he planned to use to go to San Diego, but San Diego was overunn.

With nowhere else to go we went along with him on the boat called Abigail. As we were leaving LA, the government had called for the army to napalm the city, and they did that. Bombed every little corner they could find of LA. And everything was gone in the blink of an eye.

We were on the boat for a while finding survivors along the way. But Strand refused to rescue them, so he left them for dead in the ocean. That’s when I realized that humanity had been lost, and everyone was only caring for themselves since it was life or death.

Along the way, we found a group of people, their leader was a woman called Celia. These people were broken people, they relied on spirits and the supernatural, as they were too ignorant to understand the new world. Celia thought the dead weren’t dead, that they were only sick since she kept many of them in her basement, and she would feed them.

We decided to leave, since that place wasn’t safe anymore. Before we left I locked Celia in with her dead. Now she was at peace with her own family, maybe even at peace with herself, her soul put to rest.  
Not long after that the plantation was caught on fire, caused by Daniel that same night. We presumed him dead, taking Ofelia with us to keep her safe for his sake. 

Some time later, we found a hotel in Mexico, and we took it over and made it our home. It didn’t last very long, and we lost it.

In the meantime, Nick was on his own and had found this group called the Colonia located in Mexico, where he met his girlfriend, Luciana.

Travis was also on his own with his son but Chris left his father on his own and went on a group of men he had just met. After a while, we found out that Chris had been killed by the same group he had befriended, betrayed by those he had bestowed his trust on.

Not long after, we were captured by soldiers, and in this militia compound we were reunited with Nick and Luciana.  
Eventually the dead took over, and these men took us to a place called Broke Jaw Ranch which was across the border, where the leader was an old man named Jeremiah Otto, along his two sons, Jake and Troy. On the way, I lost Travis, he was shot dead by an unknown enemy as he and Alicia escaped by helicopter. 

My life had completely changed after Travis’s death, he was what was left of the humanity that I still had and I lost that when I lost him, they both entered the grave that day. It shattered us, Alicia especially, who just a day ago had saved Travis’s life by taking another. Both traumatized her.

The Otto family was broken since the boys had a painful childhood, which affected their relationship with each other. Something I could perhaps exploit.  
It was a big ranch with many people in it. Families that bonded with one another to survive together in desperation of these dark times, I understood them.  
Jeremiah was a stubborn old man, who was in a long time feud with another group called the Nation and their leader Qaletaqa Walker who was a man of Native American origin. Ofelia, the daughter of Daniel Salazar, was there with them.

The two groups had a long time feud, taking them back to when the world used to be normal. Because of Jeremiah Otto’s pride and arrogance he had to go. I had planned to kill him one night, but it was Nick who pulled the trigger with the very gun Jeremiah had given him a few days prior. That placed us in a position of leadership and with that, I gave Walker what he wanted: Jeremiah’s head. That’s when two colonies, the Nation and the Ranch, joined together to live as one. 

We eventually found Strand, and he knew of a dam, and we went there to try to get water for the ranch. Water was quickly running low, and people were getting desperate.  
Daniel happened to be there, since we thought Daniel had burned in the fire back in Celia’s community, it came as a pleasant, though confusing surprise. The very fire he had caused did not kill him it seemed, one more person who escaped death. 

Unfortunately the ranch did not last when the dead took over, as most didn’t. That’s when we all went to the dam to live there in peace, but horrible truths surfaced that ended that peace before it had even started.  
Troy Otto was a stubborn man, like his father. He had led the horde to the ranch which caused it to fall, and his brother Jake and Ofelia died because of it.  
I had to put him down, so I took his life.

Then this group of people called the Proctors came to the dam to take over it. Escaping was a choice we made quickly. Nick made it possible for us to escape, since he sacrificed his life for us. He blew up the dam.  
I made it out, but I lost everyone I loved, I lost my kids and friends. I lost my hopes and my dreams, but I still had my life. My life is the only thing I have to say. My life and my story.  
My name is Madison... Madison Clark. And this is that story.

(Present time)

The darkness of the dead night was covering the city of Mexicali and the dead lurking within. A haunting image that would inflict fear on anyone who dared cross the path of the dead. The hungry moans of the walkers echoed through the darkness, paving way for a chorus long gone. 

In one of the pharmacies a young man named Adam is looting the place grabbing as much useful gear he can. Desperate for amoxicillin or even oxycodone. Anything for the pain, anything for injuries, in fact, anything valuable he could get his hands on. Ever since this all started, Adam has been mostly on his own trying to survive as best as he could. To survive he needs as much stuff as he could carry. 

The old world is gone and Adam needs to be quick about it. The last thing he wants is to be surrounded by the dead outside, the stench getting to him.  
Suddenly he hears someone lurking ahead. In response he gets his knife ready in preparation for an attack. This is another fact of the new world. Kill or be killed yourself, since everyone is about surviving for themselves and no one else. 

Suddenly a voice from behind says, "Don’t move! And drop your weapon!"

He feels a cold metallic sensation on the back of his head. He is being held at gunpoint Adam realizes, he also realizes he has no choice. He does what the voice tells him to do. Slowly, he turns around and there he sees a woman who seems to be in her fifties. The woman is revealed to be Madison Clark.

"Give me your bag!" - demands Madison. Adam painfully hands over his bag to her, his bag filled with goods. Madison presses on, "Is that vehicle outside the pharmacy yours?"  
Adam nods. He doesn’t speak out of fear of what she is capable of and out of respect, though the latter is far from his mind. He is impressed by this woman’s courage and attitude. Madison then demands for his car keys. Adam, however, hesitates. 

"Instead of stealing someone else’s stuff, you can just ask me nicely. Maybe I can even help you." Adam responds.

"Give me your car keys now! Or are you begging me to rip your skull off?" Madison threatens him, raising her voice.  
Realizing what she could do, Adam handed over his car keys to her without further question. Madison quickly ran to his car and drove off to the El Bazar. A place she is certain her family and friends ran off too. 

Madison arrived there quickly and parked not too far from the location. She saw that there was no one guarding the front entrance so without hesitation she got out of the car and began to approach the gate. Turns out the gate was locked, and without much thought or planning, she climbed the fences and landed on the other side.

Madison went into the building, her gun holstered, walking carefully so as to be cautious for any other survivor. Or survivors. 

She walked into a hallway going room by room trying to loot as much as she could. When she discovered a closet something immediately caught her eye. Grabbing it, she noticed it was a portrait of a family, smiling, and as happy as they once were. a portrait of a father and mother with their son and daughter. Too similar to her past life. Madison got emotional as the flashbacks of the explosion of the Dam roared through her mind, and she stiffened, remembering how Nick sacrificed his life to save his mom. Of Travis, the man who kept the family together, who kept her kids safe and treated them as his own. Of her first husband, Steven, and the love he provided to his kids.  
Madison tore apart the photo because of the memories that were haunting her and quickly left the room.

As she was walking, a man suddenly bumped into her.  
"Hey who are y-", - the man began but without realizing what had happened, stopped. Madison reacts without thinking and pulls the trigger hitting him square on the head. 

"Oh God!" she exhales. Reacting as quick as she could she drags his body back into the room she ran out of, frantically trying to hide him so that no one else could see what she had done, if there were others in the building. Unfortunately for her someone does see what she is trying to do, apparently having heard the gunshot. 

"Oh fuck!" - the man shouts in fear and runs away.

"Holy shit!" - Madison curses at the top of her lungs as she runs off to chase after the man. She cannot let this man warn anyone else about what happened. She needs to find her people whatever the cost, even if it means killing to do it.  
After a minute of chasing him she finally gets ahold of him. She grabs him from behind, wrapping an arm around his neck as the hand with the gun points it at his temple. 

"Shut your mouth or I’ll blow up your goddamn brain!" - Madison threatens him.

Please.” - The man begs Madison to let him go, but she repeats her command, telling him to shut up once more. 

She hears people walking in the hall and quickly she gets worried that they might find her. As she’s holding the man captive, she hides in a nearby room, all the while telling her captive to stay quiet or she pulls the trigger. The man takes the warning.

She then waits for the people to walk away, and as they do that, they find the man that Madison had killed. A loud commotion ensues and they immediately run off to report the situation to the rest of the group.

Madison leaves the room once they left, holding the man hostage, and follows the path the others ran off to. She arrives in what she describes as the group’s main fortress where they are all gathered. 

"Freeze!" - the people shout while holding her at gunpoint.

"Don’t move, or I’ll kill this piece of shit man of yours!" - Madison shouts while threatening the man’s life she’s holding captive.

"There is no need for this hostility," - speaks up a man as he approaches the group.  
Madison then looks at the man and questions him, "Who are you?”

"I am Isaac, the leader of the El Bazar. And you must be?" - The man replies. 

"I am none of your business," - Madison says to him.

"If that is the case, why are you in our territory, holding a man of ours as hostage and killing our men?" - Isaac asks Madison.

"Is Nick Clark here?" - She wanted to get to the point. No time for chit chat.  
Isaac seems to know him, as he looks familiar with the name.

"Nicholas the drug addict?" - He asks with curiosity.

"Yes, Nicholas, and mind your language!" - Madison replies in anger. “And how do you know of him?” - She added.

"He is not with us. But he was a good boy. He once stayed with us with his friend not so long ago. He may have mentioned some things here and there...That’s how I know," - Isaac said and then asked, "I assume you know him?"

"He is my son," - Madison confesses.  
Isaac seems surprised and says, "That’s interesting. Nicholas is your son, huh? And his friend is your boyfriend, right?" - Reminding her about Troy Otto.

"He wasn’t my boyfriend," - Madison replies furiously

As Madison keeps holding the man hostage, Isaac says: "Let our man go, we outnumber you, and you have no place to go. Release him."  
Madison refuses to listen, as she slowly walks towards a window.

As she does that, the man kicks her in the stomach and frees himself while he pushes Madison through the window which breaks it, forcing her to fall to the ground.  
Madison feels the pain upon landing, but she ignores it and gets up quickly.

As she gets up, she realizes that there’s a horde of infected right in front of her.  
Madison sees no escape, nowhere to run to. As she struggles to fight off the infected, Adam suddenly shows up and shoots the infected.

"Hey! Here I am!" - shouts Adam. "Run towards the gate, I’ll make an opening for you. Quick!" 

Madison listens without hesitation and she starts running while Adam makes a path for her.  
As she is running, Isaac starts shooting at her trying to kill her, but he misses, the shots ringing out around her.

Isaac’s men notice Adam, and they start shooting at him, but Adam is able to dodge their bullets.

Madison finally gets out and gets in the car, driving off with Adam while Isaac’s men continue to shoot at them, leaving behind a trail of smoke and walkers going crazy for failing to catch their prey.

"That was intense," - says Adam, a bit winded.

Madison says nothing as she breathes deeply due to all that running.

Adam hands over Madison a can of soda to drink. Madison refuses at first but Adam insists, and Madison agrees to take the soda and she drinks it, slow sips between breaths.

As they are driving, Adam says, "Did you know those people?"

Madison doesn’t reply and continues her chain of silence.

“Sooner or later you’ll have to speak. To tell me why you did the things that you did.” - He spoke.

"Why do you care? What is your concern?” - Madison finally speaks up. She sounds annoyed and Adam takes note of this, but to him she has done too much for him not to have any concerns.

"Well, you robbed me, took my car and shit to get to this place," Adam retorts. 

Madison is silent as Adam waits for an answer. He is so focused on finding out that he just stares at her waiting for her to say anything. 

"I don’t know these people, but I’ve been there before," Madison finally tells Adam.

"For what?” Adam questions.

Madison gets irritated and yells, "What is your deal? Why do you care? You’re a stranger to me so let’s keep it that way."

Adam then replies. "Don’t get angry, it’s just a question. Questions can’t harm you. I just want to know what the hell is going on. You took my shit for a reason.”

"You are asking too many fucking questions!" Madison raises her voice to Adam. She does not have time for this kid’s shit. She needs to find her family and friends now. They may be in trouble. 

"I know, and that’s what I wanna know. I wanna know who you are and why you were fighting with these people," Adam confessed.

Madison silences again. Can she really trust this kid? After all the shit she went through and the people that hurt her family, can she trust someone that just saved her? Perhaps he wants something in return. 

"By the way, I’m Adam." He looks at her with a serious face but manages to smirk a bit as though saying his name gives him some sense of pleasure. 

"My name’s Madison. Madison Clark." To her saying her full name sounds weird at times, but right now it felt right as though this end of the world nonsense never even happened, and the two are just getting away from some deal gone wrong. 

"Nice to meet you Madison Clark." There is joy, even relief, in Adam’s voice when he greets her. For Adam finding someone else he could talk to is a relief from all the lonely days he has been trying to survive in the wild. 

"Where are you headed to?" asks Adam.

"I’m not heading anywhere. I am just going where the road leads me to," Madison replies. She sounds a bit calmer and a bit more relaxed. 

"Where do you come from?” Adam asks Madison.

"L.A." It has been a few months now since she has seen Los Angeles, but for some reason it feels like an eternity for her. 

"L.A? Kind of far from L.A, Madison. What were you doing all the way in Mexico? You must have had some amazing trip to get here." As Adam asked this he too wondered what drove her all the way to Mexico. Though he could ask himself the same question. 

"We formed a group there, but it didn’t last long." As she said this a hint of sadness emanated from her voice and Adam immediately picked it up. 

"I’m sorry," Adam responds. “I know all too well how that must feel.” After a few seconds he finally says, “I come from Nevada." 

Madison listens and asks, "Nevada? Kind of far from Nevada, Adam."  
At this, Adam gives a weak smile. 

"Yup, Nevada. I used to live there but I also worked there. I used to be a soccer trainer for the youth."  
Madison looks at his body as it’s fit and built up pretty well. His arms show a great muscular build and his legs are long but sturdy. She finally says, "I would have guessed."  
Adam smiles and Madison also smiles in response.

"What were you before all this shit happened?” Adam inquired.

"I also worked with kids. I used to be a guidance counselor," she confesses  
.  
"Kids are hard to work with, that I know," he says while laughing in good humor. Madison smiles. So far Adam seems to be a decent person but she can’t get too attached yet. 

"I am heading to Texas," Adam finally speaks up. This response catches Madison off guard but she keeps herself attentive. 

Madison looks at him and asks, "Texas? Why?"

''My group is there and they have a big community there. You can join me if you want." Adam has a smile on his face as he says this. He barely knows her and he is inviting her. 

"You don’t know me at all and I am a total stranger to you. I robbed you at gunpoint and yet you still saved me. And now you’re inviting me to come with you. Why?" Madison straight out asked him. She needs to understand him, but she also needs to be certain he is not tricking her. 

"I know what you did and you did it for a reason. But you don’t seem like a bad person." - Adam claimed.

Madison turned to look at him and told Adam, "You have no idea what I am capable of."  
Adam then smiles at Madison’s claim. Madison immediately asks Adam why he smiled at her claim.

"We all have to do things to survive," Adam replies. He said it with such a calm demeanor, but Madison can tell he has a hint of regret as he said it. Madison seems to like him for how straight forward he is. From what she gathered from his answer, he too understands what must be done to live in this new world. 

"This group I told you of...they are strong. They are a large group and have everything a survivor needs. I feel safe being around them," Adam confesses to Madison.

"How long have you been with them?" asks Madison.

"A week," replies Adam.

"A week? Why are you over here then?" Madison wonders in confusion.

"I got split up from them," Adam replies and says nothing more. Madison keeps this in mind but asks him no more questions. 

As they were driving, they approached an abandoned motel. They agreed to spend the night there. Once they parked within walking distance they exited the car. Adam approached a road sign and pointed at it. 

"Arizona is just a couple of hours from here," Adam said.

"Didn’t realize we drove that long," Madison replied.

"In the morning, we head to Arizona," Adam told Madison. “There are roads we can take to get to Texas faster.”  
Madison just nodded in agreement. 

Then they searched in the motel checking for any dead but there were none. So they settled in and took refuge.  
While Adam was building a campfire, Madison went to the closest bathroom to change her clothes. As Madison was changing, Adam walked in and saw her nude, though he didn’t mean to.  
Madison was not aware at first that Adam had stepped in the bathroom and was staring at her. So astonished Adam was by Madison that he could not stop looking at her. For a woman her age she appears well built and dare he admit very sexy, admirable, encouraged. 

Madison finally noticed Adam staring at her with a curious face. "What are you doing here? Get out!" Madison scoffed Adam.  
Adam gulped and then walked out as fast as he could.

When Madison was done, Adam had built the campfire. They both sat around the campfire and talked.

''Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to walk into you like that," Adam apologized.

"It’s alright," Madison replied.

Adam had cooked noodles and he handed one bowl to Madison. She thanked him as they began to eat. For Madison it has been days since she has had a decent meal. The dam blowing took a huge toll on her and scattered her away from her family. She never had time to think about eating. 

"You said you were from California?" Adam asked.  
Madison nodded.

"And then you went to Mexico?"  
Madison nodded again.

"Were you with a group in California and Mexico?" Adam asked.

"I was with my family, and people who we met along the way," Madison confessed. It was hard talking about them but at the same time she felt relieved to let it all out. 

"May I ask what happened to them?" Adam inquired. “I don’t mean to pry too much. I hope you understand.”  
She nodded.  
"I lost them." There was sadness in her voice upon realizing the truth of the matter. 

Adam felt sorry for Madison more than he initially thought. Before he could say more, Madison finished her meal and stood up.

"I am going off to sleep. Good night." Madison began to walk off to her camp, but she managed to hear Adam say "Good night" with a hint of sadness as he too finished his meal and prepared to sleep as well. 

Early morning the next day, Adam woke up but Madison was nowhere to be found. 

"Madison?" - Adam searched for her. "Madison?!" - He shouted again while searching for her. But she was not there.  
Adam then went outside to look and he realized that his vehicle was missing.  
"  
For fuck’s sake!" - Adam shouted in fury. "God damn you Madison Clark!" - He knew that Madison had taken his car and run off.  
As he was standing outside feeling defeated, suddenly a group of walkers emerged from the woods, Adam then saw the dead, and pulled out his gun wanting to take them out, but there simply wasn’t enough bullets to take them all down.  
"Fuck, fuck!!" - Adam shouted in stress while the walkers were getting closer and closer. Adam decided to run away, to run as far as he could from the walkers as he left the motel, still cursing Madison’s name.

(Back to Madison)

Madison has been driving for hours now and finally see approaches a sign with the following "Arizona- The Grand Canyon State Welcomes You"  
She notices that but she keeps driving through Arizona. After more hours of driving, the truck runs out of fuel.

"Not now, shit." - She exhales. She tries to turn on the engine one more time but it just doesn’t work, the car's dead. "Fuck.." - She slowly exhales again.

Madison then gets out of the truck and pulls out her gun as she was watching out for the dead. She then starts walking and sees a hospital from a distance.

As she notices the hospital she then goes towards it. As she’s walking towards the hospital, she then runs into a herd of walkers in the city. She then quickly backs off and hides behind a corner. "Fucking hell.. they are everywhere." - Madison claims in shock.  
She tries to find another way to get to the hospital but she doesn’t get very lucky to find another way. She then sees a police station across the street and quickly runs to it without the dead noticing her.

She goes in and checks the station but the station turns out to be empty but with one handcuffed walker inside. Madison approaches the walker as the walker growls at her. She then reminds herself that she can disguise herself with walker blood. So she takes out her hammer and stabs the walker in the head. She then cuts his stomach open. She pulls out the guts and covers herself with it. "I thought I’d never do this again" - She shivered in disgust.

She then leaves the station and then goes towards the hospital. She emerges with the walkers as she’s carefully and slowly moving. Madison felt a bit of stress, as she continued to walk some walkers got too close to her and one of the walkers got to Madison’s face and just stopped and stared at her.  
Madison then too stopped and stared at the walker. After seconds of staring at her, the walker goes away as does Madison. Madison gets closer and closer to the hospital and she finally reaches the entrance.  
She slowly opens the door but then sees that the hospital was full of walkers as well. The walkers notice the door being opened and they see Madison, they start growling as they go towards her. Madison then kills some of them as she’s trying to find a way out.  
She then gets cornered by some walkers as she has no option to escape. As the walkers move towards her, two men suddenly show up from behind and kill those walkers.

"Come with us now!" - One of the men shouted to Madison as the other one was shooting at the walkers. They grab Madison and then run into a chamber. The walkers followed them. But the boys locked the door so the walkers wouldn’t be able to get in.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" - A woman in the room wonders in worry. Then an old man and one other woman also come forward.

"And who the hell is this?!" - The woman asked about Madison.

"They had her cornered, we saved her in time." - One of the lads replied.

"You almost got killed because of this woman? And now all of them know where we are thanks to you idiots" - The woman shouted in fury.

"Hey watch your tone Esther!" - One of the men who rescued Madison replied.

"Watch my tone? - The woman named Esther said.

"Esther’s right, you two assholes are gonna get us killed." - The older man shouted.

"Hey fuck you Zechariah" - One of the men insulted him.

"Guys don’t give them pressure, they saved a life for the love of Christ" - The woman behind Esther came into the debate.

"Look who’s talking! You are the one who almost got all of us killed but we still let you in and kept you in our group, didn’t we Linda? So we now recognize the people of your kind and we won’t make the same mistakes again." - Zechariah answered the lady named Linda.

"Let Linda speak, you son of a bitch!" - One of the men who rescued Madison said. 

"Everyone calm down, I wish you no harm or trouble" - Madison says to them.

"Yeah right we’ve heard that before and last time we believed in that nonsense we almost died because of it" - Zechariah replies to Madison.

"Look I am not trying to stay here, I’ll just go and leave and never come back again, you’ll never see me again I promise you" - Madison adds.

"What if she has a group?" - Esther asks.

"What do you mean by that?" - One of the men who rescued Madison wonders.

"What if she has a group and if we let her go she tells her group about us and then they come here and raid and kill us. Do we really take chances by letting her go? I say not!" - Esther declares.

"Yeah I say we end her here, she might be dangerous!" - Zechariah agreed with Esther’s proposition.

"You two are fucking insane" - Madison replies in big amount of anger.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! We can’t kill her, she has done nothing to us, we don’t kill innocent people, we’re not monsters!" - the men that saved Madison replied in anger.

"George and Oliver are right man, we can’t kill her. Because you’re fucked up in the head Zechariah alongside with your lover girl here doesn’t mean you can just drag us all into your shit" - Linda sided with Madison and George & Oliver.

"What did I tell you Linda shut your motherfucking mouth" - Zechariah shouts at Linda.

"We all know why you’re so fucked up in the head, we know why you and your little bitch girlfriend Esther here always side with eachother even though you both need mental help you heartless cunts" - Linda continues

''Shut up!!!" - Zechariah yells at Linda.

"Guys stop this madness goddammit" - Oliver responds.

"Is it because your little girlfriend here and you have feelings for each other? Or maybe because she gave you nice pussy and she needed dick so badly that she became a level one lowlife and fucked a crazy old cunt?" - Linda conveys.

"What the fuck’s up with you bitch?" - Esther growls at Linda.

"Linda that’s enough!" - George tells Linda.

"No, it’s never enough George. These two raggedy assholes have done enough damage to the group, we can’t live with these two fuckers being painful asses to every one of us" - Linda replies to George’s request.

"Go to hell!" - Esther shouts at Linda.

"Everyone knows the truth. We’ve all seen it. You’re just a damaged fool who has no other choice but to obey this old fucker who you are terrified of. We’ve all seen how harshly he treats you when you disobey him" - Linda reveals.

"Guys that’s enough please I’ll leave just stop!" - Madison suggests.

"Linda stop it already!" - George shouts at Linda.

"You little bitch I told you to shut the fuck up!" - Zechariah answers Linda.  
"  
Screw you I’m not Esther. You can’t tell me what to do. I am not your servant. You’re just an old lonely prick that has to pick up fights against those who are weak but have no balls to stand up to those whom’s balls are bigger than yours. Just like you do with Esther. Beat the shit out of her when she doesn’t obey your old wrinkly ass!" - Linda responds to Zechariah.

"Shut your fucking mouth lady!" - Zechariah yells at Linda.

"This is getting out of control" - Oliver claimed.

"If I don’t shut my mouth what will you do? Will you beat me up like you beat up your girlfriend? Oh I fucking dare you. I’ll kill you! I’ll rip you into pieces. It'd be easier for me to end you since I then would have a reason why to kill you" - Linda furiously responded.

"Linda stop! For the love of God!" - Esther shouts.

"I am just telling the truth Esther. We all know how he treats you and we all know how much you fear him. In fact you don’t even love him." - Linda replies.

"What did you just say you whore?" - Zechariah answered in anger.

"Alright that’s enough let it go Linda for Christ’s sake!" - George urges Linda to stop.

"That’s right, we all know Esther doesn’t love you. She pretends to love you just because she fears you. Give it up you old fuck. She has never loved you. Who could even love you? You think she sides with you and obeys you because she loves you? Well you’re deceiving yourself then. She hates you, just like we all do. And just like the rest of us, she wants you gone, you old son of a bitch!" - Linda shouted at Zechariah’s face.

Zechariah then loses his control and hits Linda as she collapses to the ground.

"You bitch how dare you!!" - He starts beating her.

"No!!" - Esther tries to stop him but he hits her pushing her to the ground.

George then jumps into Zechariah and pulls him off and starts fighting.

As George’s punching his face, Zechariah grabs a bottle and punches it against George’s face which makes George get weaker and lose control over Zechariah.  
Zechariah gets on top of George and starts choking him.

"Hey get off him!" - Oliver runs to stop him.

As Oliver’s ready to jump on him, Zechariah kicks him back.

''ARRGGH!!’ - Oliver falls back in pain.

Zechariah continues to choke George trying to strangle him.

"Noo Zechariah please no stop!!" - Esther cries out. 

"I should have finished you a long time ago. You didn’t know who you were fucking with boy. Now I get to finally end you, you stupid black bastard!" - He keeps on choking on George as George loses power and is dying.

As Zechariah almost kills George, Madison suddenly pulls out her gun and shoots Zecharian right on the back which makes him fall backwards.

"Wha-what did you do.." - Zechariah says as his mouth fills with blood and falls backwards.

"Nooo!!!" - Esther runs to him.

All of them stare at Madison with shock. 

"I’ve had enough!. Your pride has caused so much harm inside the group and someday it will get you killed. This is my last warning; If I see you again behaving like this, putting your hands on people again, I swear on my children, I will not show any mercy and I will end you right away. Do not fuck with my tolerance. Do you hear me?! DO NOT TEST ME. MY NAME IS MADISON CLARK... I DON’T FORGIVE.."  
They all looked at Madison with a huge amount of fear.

Some time later, they all got up and put Zechariah on a bed.

"Guys please help! We need bandages and alcohol and stitches! There are none here, please help!" - Esther pleaded for help.  
None of them answered.

"Linda?" - She said to Linda. "Please you’re a doctor, please save Zechariah, I beg you!"

"I’m not a doctor, I just have medical experience and why should I help you? That old rat deserves to die!" - Linda answered.

"Please just help him! I’m sorry for everything that happened, I wanted none of this to happen!" - Esther begged for help.  
Linda felt the pain in Esther and she decided to help. 

"Fine.. but don’t think I’m forgiving him for what he did" - She made it clear to Esther.  
Esther hugged Linda and said "Thank you"

"Guys some of us need to go to the second floor of the hospital. There should be the things that we need." - Linda told the group.

"I’ll go" - volunteered Madison.

"I’ll come with you" - said George.

"Great, hurry, we shouldn’t be wasting more time" - Linda told them.

Madison and George headed towards the door and opened the door carefully as there were still walkers around. 

"How are we gonna do this?" - George asked.

Madison looked around and noticed a walker that was stuck and dragged it’s body inside. 

George seemed confused and said "What are we gonna do with it?"

"We’re gonna pull his guts out and cover ourselves with it"

"What did my ears just hear?" - George was shocked.

"In that way, they won’t notice the difference between us and them and that’s how we get to those supplies. I know it sounds horrible, but trust me, I’ve done it before and it works" - Madison confronted him.

They covered themselves with walker guts as George was utterly disgusted with the guts.  
Then they started slowly walking and merged amongst the herds. George was stressed out and shocked by being so close to walkers. 

"Jesus Christ this is a living nightmare" - George spoke.

"Shut up, they’ll hear you.." - Madison whispered.

George got face to face with a walker. 

"Don’t move and be quiet" - Madison advised him.  
George did what Madison told him and came face to face with a walker and then the walker went away and they continued walking.

They finally got to the second floor where there weren’t walkers lurking in the halls.

"I never wanna do that again" - George confessed.

"I didn’t know you were such a coward" - Madison joked.

"Well I was walking with the dead like it was nothing, isn’t that just creepy?" - George declared.  
They began walking again through the second floor and searching for supplies. 

As they were walking, George said "So your name is Madison? Madison Clark?"

"I guess you got that then" - Madison answered his question.

"That was the most badass way to reveal a name. Hats off Madison Clark" - George complimented Madison as they shared a good laugh.

"So where do you come from? You don’t seem to be around here" - George wondered.

"L.A" - Madison answered honestly.

"L.A? How did you end up in Yuma from LA?" - George asked.

"Yuma?" - Madison asked.

"That’s the city we’re in right now" - George answered.

"Well I didn’t directly come here from LA. It wasn’t planned to come here at all. It just happened" - Madison told him.

"So where you’ve been before you arrived here?"

"Mexico. Baja California, across the border." - Madison confessed.

"Mexico? Went there once before all this started. I was sick the entire vacation" - George tells Madison.  
¨  
"That must’ve sucked" - Madison said.

"So were you with a group in LA and Mexico? You got a family?" - George wondered.  
Madison remained quiet for a minute. 

"Yes, I was with my children and people who we met along the way." - Madison spoke the truth.

"They’re not with you now? Did something happen to them?" - George wondered.  
Madison then said nothing. George understood that it wasn’t something good and decided not to ask more questions about her people.

"You know what you did today.." - George said  
Madison remained quiet once again.

"You did the right thing. You saved my life. Thank you" - George showed his appreciation.  
Madison said nothing and remained silent.

They continued to walk and Madison entered a room. "I’ll check this room" - she said.

Madison was checking the room, trying to find supplies. A walker came from behind outta nowhere and jumped into her. She struggled to fight the walker off and it almost got her. George runs from behind and stabs the walker in the head and gives Madison his hand so she could get up.  
She gets up and says to George "And you saved my life". George then smiled and they continued to walk.

"Has your group always been so dysfunctional?" - Madison was straight forward.

"You could say so. Zechariah has always been a pain in the ass, and Esther is not a bad person but she is just too stupid. He’s controlling her" - George responded.

"How have you guys had the patience to let that miserable human be with you?" - Madison wondered.

"We didn’t have a choice you could say. We were afraid that the smaller our group gets, the weaker we become. We were just afraid" - He answered her.

"I suppose you now know that’s not correct." - Madison replied.

"Well I get it now after I almost died" - He spoke.

They continued to walk and they finally found the room with the supplies that they needed.

"Here we go" - Said George. "Let’s grab everything we need".

They grabbed everything they needed and headed back to the group.

On their way back, George said to Madison: "You are welcome to stay with us, Madison. I’d be very glad if you did"

"Us? You might wanna rethink that. Also, I need to move on. I can’t stay here." - Madison declined the offer at first.

"Look I know that things didn’t turn out as you were expecting it, and trust me, I am deeply sorry to have made you witnessed all this bullshit. I honestly am but, we need a person like you. You’re strong, and that’s what’s lacking in our group right now. Especially with Zechariah now things will get a lot harder. Only you may shut him up for good"

Madison wondered and said "Fine, but don’t think that I’ll stay with you forever"

''Thanks" - George replied.  
¨  
They were finally back and Linda said: "Did you guys get everything I asked you for?" They showed her the supplies and she immediately ran off to Zechariah.  
While Linda was performing surgery, the group sat together.

Oliver took some whiskey and offered it to the group.

"Madison, here you go. You deserve it most." - Oliver offered a drink to Madison.

"Thank you. I appreciate it" - she accepted Oliver’s offer.

Oliver then shared the whiskey with George and then went to Esther and offered her some.

"Esther, here you go. You need it. You’ve been through a long day" - Oliver wanted to share a drink with her.

Esther turned it down and marched to Madison and got close to her face.

"Why are you still here?" - She asked Madison.

"Because I wanted her to stay. Besides she could be a help" - George defended his decision.

"She could be of help? Are you for real? Everything that happened is because of her. If you didn’t bring her here, none of this mess would have happened. I wouldn’t have been humiliated by Linda, your ass wouldn’t have been almost dead and my boyfriend wouldn’t have been on his deathbed right now" - Esther spoke.

"Slow down there. I almost died because of your boyfriend. Madison has no fault, everything that happened is because of Zechariah, Esther. Can’t you see?" - George replied.

"What I see is you trusting a total stranger that you barely know who shot my boyfriend and gets to live happily after. She needs to go, she is not staying here. You are not in charge of making such decisions, George" - Esther said to George. 

"You need to let it go, Esther. It’s the best for everyone" - Oliver asked Esther to let it go.

"What do you know Oliver? You know nothing that feels committed to someone you love. Should you be the one speaking like that?" - She angrily spoke to Oliver.

"I would definitely be mad as hell, but, the whole story would change if my husband would beat the fuck out of me and treat me like his peasant." - Oliver acted honest which angered Esther. 

They looked at Oliver with the shade he just gave to Esther.

"I said Madison is staying, whether you like it or not" - George held fast by his decision.  
Linda came out with all blood on her hands. "Linda please tell me he is okay?!" - Esther asked out of stress.

"Don’t worry, I managed to get the bullet out. He stopped bleeding, he is resting now" - She gave Esther the news she wanted to hear.  
Esther became so happy and she marched to go inside the other room where Zechariah is, but before she left she turned around and told George:

"You are gonna get us killed, that’s all I know"

George and the group looked at her in a strange way.

"You’re in denial, lady!" - Oliver shouted at Esther.

"Let her go. She’s just scared. She’ll recover. Give her some time" - George answered Oliver.

"What’s up with her again?" - Linda asked the group concerning Esther

"She is not happy that Madison’s staying" - Gorge answered Linda’s question.

Linda looked over at Madison and said: "You’re staying?"

"Well I think I am for now" - Madison answered.

"That’s cool, we could need your help here. Besides, you seem pretty badass. Shot the guy right in the stomach. Asshole deserved to be shot in the head." - Linda praises Madison.

"She’s more than badass. I really like you, Madison. You’re a true fighter!" - Oliver also praises Madison.

"What the hell do you know about being a true fighter?" - Linda asked Oliver.

"What do you mean?" - Oliver asked in concern.  
"  
You are basically a chicken shit. You can’t even fight a few deadheads by yourself unless you have a guardian watching your ass." - Linda criticizes Oliver.

"Hey I’m not a chicken shit. I saved Madison earlier today." - Oliver defends himself.

"You saved Madison? Yeah right. I bet you did" - Linda answers Oliver's claims.

"He did save her. He’s not scared at all." - George tells Linda.

"Thank you George!" - Oliver thanks George.

"Calm down I’m just screwing with ya boy." - Linda tells Oliver as they share a good laugh.

Esther walks out and says: "Oliver, is the food ready? I need some food for Zechariah, he’s hungry.''

"Oh right, coming right away." - Oliver gets the food and gives it to Esther as she goes back in the room with Zechariah.

Oliver then served everyone else some pasta he’s made. They all sat and shared a meal.

"So Madison" - Linda looked at her.

"Since you are new to the group, will you tell us a bit about who you are" - Linda asked Madison.

"She is from L.A. She came here from Mexico there she was with her family and group" - George answers Linda.

"So you two got to exchange some words with each other a bit? What else do you know about her?" - Linda asked.

"I think you should take the rest, Madison" - George told Madison.

"You’re from LA? I had a girlfriend who was from LA" - Oliver said

"You, with a girlfriend?" - Linda joked with Oliver.

"Do you have to make fun of everything that I say? Jeez." - Oliver answered Linda.

"I apparently do. " - As the answered she and the others laughed.

"Go on Madison, tell us more." - Linda spoke to Madison.

"Well, I originally come from Alabama. Born and raised in Montgomery. My father was a senator and my mom was just a housewife." - Madison told more.

"Your dad was a senator? You must have gotten a lot of attention from the media." - George asked Madison.

"We did. I was so tired of it. People would never let us have any space. It was horrible" - Madison confessed.

"Then when I grew older, I moved to Los Angeles. There I studied and eventually became a high school counselor." - Madison continued.

"Oh man you got to work with kids. Isn’t that incredibly annoying?" - Oliver asked Madison.

"Not at all. Most teenagers were very kind. My time as a counselor was pretty good." - Madison answered.

"Then along the way, I met Steven. The father of my children, Nicholas and Alicia.  
"Did he..?" - George wondered.

"He passed away before all this mess began. He is lucky to not live in this world. He was a good guy. Our relationship was very complicated but, he gifted me with the best gift a mother could ever want. He gave me my children." - Madison spoke.

"Then years later, I met Travis. He was my soul mate. I miss him everyday. He was the humanity that I had left. He.. He got killed by another group that we were in conflict with at across the border. He was too good for this world.. and people like him.. they are the kind that always die.." - Madison told them about Travis."

"Travis sounds like he was a great guy." - Linda added.

''He was more than great.. he was.. my everything." - Madison confesses how much she missed him.

"Where are your children?" - Oliver asked.

Madison remained silent for a minute.

"I don’t know" - Confessed Madison.

"Back across the border, we found a home we thought was finally a home for us. But it turned out it wasn’t.. and there’s where I lost my children. I don’t know if they’re alive... I don’t know if they’re dead. All I know is I miss them so much. I’d give everything to see them again. I’d give my own life to make sure their lives are safe." - Madison told how much she misses her kids.

They all remained silent for a minute.

"I can understand your pain, but don’t give up hope. At least not yet" - George told Madison.

"I know how it is, Madison. I lost my daughter when this world went insane. I miss her everyday, I wish I could have saved her.. you know, wish I could have been able to do something. She was just.. so innocent and pure. She was always so positive over everything, she saw the world from a brighter perspective. That’s what’s kept me going. And that’s what still keeps me going. You just don’t give up hope. You fight and fight until you win. I just wish she was still with me.." - Linda told her story.

Esther came out from Zechariah’s room and sat alone. Madison looked at her and felt bad. She took a bowl of soup and got up to give it to her.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" - Linda asked Madison.  
Madison nodded. 

Madison got to Esther. And Esther said: "What do you want?"

"I thought I’d check on ya. You must be starving" - Madison showed her concern.

"What do you care? Don’t pretend like you do." - Esther answered Madison.

"Please this is not the time for this" - Madison spoke to Esther.

"Time for what? The fact that you almost killed my boyfriend? What kind of woman are you? Just go away" - Esther showed no interest in talking to Madison.

"You don’t get it do you? He tried to kill someone, he hit you and he hit Linda. In what world do you think I’d let him just do that? Please.. you should be able to tell wrong from right. You’re not a kid. Grow up." - Madison let Esther know.

Esther felt that Madison was right and finally accepted Madison’s offer.

"Fine but don’t think this will change things between us. Now let me be" - Esther told Madison.

Madison looked over at Zechariah’s room and started heading there.

"Where do you think you’re going?" - Esther asked Madison.

"Don’t worry about it. I won’t argue with him." - Replied Madison.

"Just don’t please." - Esther said.

Madison entered the room and saw Zechariah laying down. She looked at his wound.

"I see you’re recovering. " Madison told Zechariah.

"Madison Clark.. you silly woman. You almost killed me so you could later tell me I’m recovering..? You’re something else." - Zechariah told Madison.  
¨  
"You had it coming. The blame’s on you." - Madison replied.

"It’s always me.. right. But you’re the angel here." - Zechariah replied.

"All of this happened because of you presence Madison and you know it." - Zechariah blamed Madison.

"Again, the only one who’s to blame is you. Don’t drag others into the mess you’ve made" - Madison was straight forward.

"Why are you still here? Aren’t you supposed to be gone by now?" - Zechariah wondered.  
¨  
"I am not going anywhere." - Madison replied.  
¨  
Zechariah got angry hearing about it.  
"What are you saying? How come you’re not leaving?" - He asked Madison.

"George’s decision" - Madison said.

"Who the fuck is George? he is not in charge. He doesn’t get a say. You are not staying here, you’re leaving and never coming back." - He told her.

"You don’t get a say either Zechariah. Not after what you’ve done." - Madison replied.

"Listen to me Clark, when I’m getting up from this thing, I want to see your ass outta here. Or we will have problems." - Zechariah threatened Madison.

"We’ll see about that. We’ll see if anyone gives a shit about what you say"- Madison replied.

"You’re full of shit Madison Clark. And you know it." - He replied.

"The only reason why you think you’re in charge is because you think everybody else looks up to you. That’s where you’re dead wrong, Zechariah. You think they’re scared of you, don’t you? That boosts your arrogant pride even more. " - Madison spoke.

"They should be scared of me because I keep them alive, you bitch." - Zechariah told Madison.  
Madison crushes his wound very hard so it would hurt him a lot.

"Argh, what are you doing?! STOP!!" - Zechariah screams in pain.

"They won’t be scared anymore. You’ve lost your power, man. They’ve seen your true colours. You’re done. Now I’m here, and I won’t let you lurk around and do whatever you want to. Because you’ll face me if you try. Next time it’ll be the head, I guarantee you." - Madison threatened Zechariah.

"Get the fuck out of here" - Zechariah yelled at Madison.

Esther walks in and says: "Madison I think it’s time for you to go."

Madison then leaves the room and joins the others.

"What did she say to you? Did she bother you?" - Esther asks Zechariah.

"Ignore her, she’s full of shit." - Says Zechariah.

Madison rejoins the group and Linda asks her "So what happened in there?"

"He thinks he’s in charge. He wants me gone before he gets up or we’ll have a problem he says." - Madison confessed.

"Man this guy just won’t ever quit will he?" - Oliver says.

"No shit he won’t. You should have just ended him right there. Fucker.." - Linda says to Madison.

"He thinks you’re scared of him. He thinks he keeps you alive" - Madison says to them.

"Okay I’ll go and kill the bastard myself" - Linda says.

"Don’t. It’s not worth it" - Madison stops her.

"The guy’s deluded. He’s fooling himself. He’s blind" - Said George.

"This guy is gonna be a huge problem for you people. If he does not stop, one of you will have to put him down. Otherwise he will put you down" - Madison warned them.

"We need to think about getting moving. This place ain’t safe and we’re running out of supplies soon" - Linda spoke.

"Where would we go?" - Asks Oliver.

"I don’t know, somewhere else safer than here." - Answers Linda.

"Linda’s right. This place ain’t safe, it’s a big mess full of the dead." - Madison declared.

Esther got out and heard them talking: "Where do you think we should move?"

"Somewhere else safe" - Linda responded.

"What about Zechariah? He’s in no condition to move." - Esther spoke.

"We take him with us" - George said.

"I don’t think it’s a good idea. He can barely walk, and he’d make a lot of noise out there which would make it very hard for us to get out" - Madison replied.  
"Madison’s right. We need a week or two for him to get up on his feet again. Please" - Esther begs them.  
They all nod.

Suddenly the group hears some bombings and shootings outside the hospital. 

"What the hell is that?" - Oliver asked.

"I don’t know. It sounded like shooting and bombing" - Linda responded.

"Could it be the military?" - George asked.

"They still around?" - Madison wondered.

Esther then comes and says "What the hell was that?"

"We think it’s the military" - George answered.

"The military?" - Esther asks. "Then we should go ask them for help" - She claims.

"That would be too dangerous, we don’t know if it’s them. We can’t take risks" - Madison says.

The shootings can be heard again and they’re all scared. 

"Madison, let’s get on top of the roof and let’s see what’s going on" - George says.

"You others stay close, don’t leave." - George advises them.  
They nodded.

Madison and George get up on the roof and they see the military fighting a herd.

"Oh my God" - Madison says in shock.

"There is just too many.. for fuck’s sake." - George watches in horror.

The shootings continue as they witness the military going down as the walkers overrun the military and eat them alive. They watch in horror bombed buildings that lead more walkers to the city. The city of Yuma has officially become a walker city. Madison watches in horror as she realizes that humanity has truly fallen. She watches all the shed blood and the dead people as they stand on the roof. Madison realized that: The Dead are now the Citizens of Earth.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	2. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madison and the others seek shelter at a museum. Trust leads to a horrifying outcome.

Madison and George quickly ran down to the group as the shootings continued.

"What the hell is going on?" - Esther asked them.

"We have to go now" - George confessed.

"Go? Why?" - Esther continued.

"The military’s here, they’re fighting the dead. But not many of them survived and the infected have taken over the city. We need to leave" - Madison replied.

Esther then ran to Zechariah and took him.

"Where will we go?" - Linda asked.

"Anywhere out there, we can’t stay here" - George replied.

"How can we then leave if the city’s full of the dead? I’m not going anywhere, I’m not planning to die, not today" - Zechariah responded.

George approached him and said: "We’re moving, whether you like it or not, if you want to stay, then you can stay. But we’re not staying" 

Zechariah looked at George with fury.

"How the fuck are we gonna get out of here then?" - Zechariah continued.

Madison then ran outside the room and killed a walker and brought it in.

They all looked at her while she cut opened the walker inside.

"What are you doing?" - Linda asked in confusion and disgust.

"We’re gonna have to put guts all over ourselves" - Madison replied.

The group looked in shock and Oliver said: "Are you out of your mind? That’s fucking disgusting!"

"You’re right that’s goddamn disgusting. You have lost your senses, woman. Or is this a trick to get us killed by using their guts?" - Zechariah yelled.

"If I want to kill you, believe me that no one will be able to stop me from killing you, but trust me, I don’t want to kill you. So quit whining and do as I say if you want to get out of here." - Madison scolded Zechariah.

"How do we know it’s safe?" - Linda asked.

"It is safe, I tried it while we were going upstairs. It works." - George replied.

"Look, trust me, it’s disgusting and gross, but you can manage. It’s our only way out." - George continued.

They all listened to George and finally decided to go along and cover themselves in walker guts.

"Alright, now let’s stay close to each other. And do not make too much noise. If you wanna say something, then talk quietly or whisper." - Madison  
advised them.

Then they got out and started walking among the dead.

"Holy shit this is creepy" - Esther whispered.

"Try to keep your cool" - Madison replied.

They continued to walk and Zechariah whispered: "Where the hell are we going? This city is full with these things"

"We’re going away from here, we just gotta keep moving" - Madison whispered.

"You have no idea where we’re going, do you? You bitch do you realize how dangerous is it to be out here? You are risking our lives" 

"Zechariah shut up for once for God’s sake and focus on the walking" - Linda replied.

"This is our life we’re talking about Linda, don’t you dare tell me to shut up when it’s life and death right now, just look around you" - Zechariah responded.

"Guys this is not the time to fight" - George replied.

"We’re not fighting George, I am just stating the obvious that because of this woman that we have no clue about, this person that I know for sure cannot be trusted; we’re going to be fresh meat for the dead." - Zechariah whispered.

Some walkers noticed the conversation and they started looking at the group.

"Guys keep it down, you are alerting the dead." - Oliver whispered.

They continued to walk more and Zechariah said: "How far, woman? You’re gonna get all of us killed."

Madison gave no answer.

"Fucking hell speak you bitch" - Zechariah spoke.

Madison got angry and said: "Hear me you old prick, if you don’t like this then why the fuck don’t you turn around? I am trying to save all of you here, and if you don’t want to be saved, then peace the fuck off" 

Zechariah then turned around and realized that he couldn’t go back since there were walkers everywhere.

"I am not feeling well" - Esther whispered in fear.

"What’s wrong baby?" - Zechariah replied.

"Please get me out of here I am not feeling good" - Esther started shivering.

"Stay calm Esther" - Madison responded.

"I can’t, I- Just get me out of here" - Esther replied as she started to shake.

"Zechariah for God’s sake keep her mouth shut, we’ll be noticed" - Madison spoke.

"She’s shivering, she’s scared" - Zechariah responded.

"Then calm her down" - Madison whispered.

Esther then slowly ran off to a car in fear.

"NO- Holy shit" - Linda responded in shock.

"Don’t move guys we can’t get to her. We can’t be noticed" - Madison replied.

Oliver then slowly sneaked to the car and talked to Esther.

"Hey Esther, listen to me, calm down. Everything will be okay. We need you to focus now, it’s very important. Can you do that?" - Oliver spoke.  
"  
I can’t, I am very scared. I don’t want to be here" - Esther replied.

"None of us want to be here, but we have to do this if we want to get out of here" - Oliver responded.

"Cmon" - Oliver grabbed her hand and as they were going back with the rest of the group a walker attacked Oliver.

"Argh!" - Oliver shouted.

The group was scared and terrified.

"FUCKING HELL" - George whispered.

Madison then quickly ran off to Oliver and killed the walker that was trying to kill him.

"Are you okay?" - Madison asked stunned.

"Fuck that was close, thank you" - Oliver responded in shock.

"You okay too?" - Madison asked Esther.

Esther nodded in fear.

More of the army then entered the city and they started shooting at the herds.

"Guys we have to move now" - Linda spoke.

Oliver and Esther slowly ran off to the rest of the group.

Madison then also attempted to run back but suddenly a soldier grabbed her from behind and knocked her down.

Madison tries to resist him as she was fighting back.

The soldier pulls off his knife and tries to stab her throat.

Madison was trying to resist him but she wasn’t as strong as him.

When the knife got very close to her throat, and Madison was not strong enough to resist him, Linda comes from behind the soldier and knocks him out, saving Madison’s life.

"I-I" - Madison mumbled in shock.

"Thank me later, cmon" - Linda responded.

Linda grabbed Madison’s hand and she got up.

As the military continued to fight off the herd; Zechariah suddenly shouted; "HEY! Civilians here! Please help us!" 

The group was shocked.

"What the fuck are you doing?" - George asked him.

"I’ve had enough of your weak asses" - Zechariah replied.

The walkers then noticed the group and many of them started to surrender them.

Then at the right time, Madison and Linda started shooting at the walkers, leaving the group unharmed.

The army then noticed the group and they started shooting at them.

"Madison, we can’t leave that soldier we just knocked out" - Linda spoke.

Madison then looked at the soldier down as the walkers were approaching him and she decided to pick him up and so she did.

The group got together and they quickly ran away from the streets, as they were running out of the city, Madison and the group killed many walkers while running away.

And finally, they were clear and found themselves outside the city.

After escaping the city and finding themselves on a highway, they stopped for a second.

Zechariah noticed that Madison had brought the soldier with her.

"Wow, what the fuck are you doing?" - Zechariah asked.

"What do you mean?" - Madison wondered.

"I am talking about this piece of shit you’ve brought with us. Are you insane?" - Zechariah replied in an angry tone.

"We saved his life, he would have died if we didn’t bring him with us" - Madison responded.

"We can’t afford to bring more people into the group. And for fuck's sake take a look at him, he’s a fucking soldier. The rest of his people are gonna look for him and imagine what they’ll do to us if they find him with us. We can’t take chances anymore." - Zechariah stated.

"No one is coming for us" - Linda responded.

"How do you know that?" - Zechariah asked.

"I don’t. But goddamit, stop being so negative towards people Jesus Christ. Find something better to do." - Linda provoked him.

"Listen to me you stupid fuck, this is not the first time you’ve gotten into my nerves so right now I would suggest you shutting your goddamn mouth" - Zechariah pointed finger at Linda.

Madison then got in between Linda and Zechariah.

"Take that finger down before I shove it up your ass" - Madison threatened him.

Zechariah looked furious as he put his finger down.

"This is not your decision to make, Zechariah. You are not in charge of this group. Stop acting like you are. If you want to be with this group, you gotta earn your place, otherwise, you are in no good use." - Madison spoke to him.

Zechariah remained silent.

"Guys, can you all fight later because right now we need to get the hell out of here" - Oliver told them while a herd of walkers were approaching from a distance.

Then they all started to walk on the highway. And after walking for a while, they found an orange dirty truck and they all got in and drove for a while.  
(George was driving, Zechariah was at the front passenger seat while Oliver sat behind him, Madison seated at Oliver’s left side, Linda next to Madison’s left and then Esther behind George and right of Linda)

"How is he?" - George pointed out at the knocked out soldier back in the trunk as he was driving.

"He’ll be fine" - Madison replied while looking back at the soldier in the trunk.

"I still don’t know why the hell you brought him with us." - Zechariah asked while he was sitting in the front passenger seat.

"We should have left him so the infected would have had something to feast on, right? Is that what you wanted to happen?" - Linda responded.  
"That son of a bitch attacked Madison and his people almost got us killed." - Zechariah spoke.  
"Oh please, don’t pretend like you give a shit about Madison. And it was you that almost got us killed, if you kept your big mouth shut none of that would have happened.’ - Linda claimed.

"That was because you people are nuts. You won’t even listen, you think this world is a children’s playground. Helping people isn’t the right way, this asshole will likely try to stab us in the back when he gets up. I know his kind, you think he’ll give us kisses when he wakes up? I’ll tell you what he’ll give us when he wakes up, a knife to our fucking backs. And if something happens to me or Esther because of this prick, I swear to Jesus, I will make you pay for it." - Zechariah threatened them.

"Dude why won’t you just give up?" - Oliver added in fury.

"Look who joined the chat. The pale looking olive oil that contributes absolutely fucking nothing for this group." - Zechariah responded to Oliver.

"Huh? I don’t contribute anything? I’ve provided you with food and water and every damn thing you have asked for for the past month. I’ve risked my life going out there on supply runs just so you could be well fed and armed? And I CONTRIBUTE NOTHING? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU, YOU BASTARD?" - Oliver lost it as he yelled at Zechariah.

"George stop the car, Imma beat this prick’s ass right fucking now". - Zechariah replied in anger.

"Oh you’re gonna beat my ass? Oh well cmon, I’d love to see you try" - Oliver tempted him.

"Shut up Oliver, don’t tempt him. He’ll beat your ass, you know that" - Esther replied.

"Well you know how he beats people because you’re used to him beating the shit out of you day and night, right?" - Oliver responded.

"Kill yourself rat" - Esther yelled at him.

"Guys stop" - George replied while driving.

"Esther, stop being a hypocrite. Why are you sticking up for someone who mistreats you badly?" - Linda spoke.

"What the hell?" - Zechariah was mad.

"He protects me from the hell out there, and he’s done the same for you yet you people can’t be fucking grateful! He gets blamed for everything that happens in this group. Yes, he beats my fucking ass. But for a good reason. To discipline me, to make me strong." - Esther replied.

"Discipline you by making you drop dead on the ground? Did I just hear this retarded ridiculous bullshit?" - Oliver responded in shock.

"Fuck you Oliver. You don’t know what love is, you have no fucking right to talk" - Esther shouted at Oliver.

"I don’t know what love is? You don’t know shit about me. For you to make that claim shows how stupid and brainwashed you are, you should hang your head in shame for being so fucking stupid!" - Oliver yelled in anger.

"Guys that’s enough" - George spoke once again.

"Don’t you dare speak to her like that you son of a bitch, I’ll kill you!!" - Zechariah responded.

"Well C’MON THEN YOU OLD MOTHERFUCKER." - Oliver really tempted Zechariah this time.

Zechariah slowly turned around to Oliver and he shouted at him as he grabbed his throat and started to choke him.

"NO!" - Linda shouted as she tried to help Oliver but Esther grabbed her by the hair and pulled her.

"STOP STOP STOP!!" - Madison tried to help Olive by pushing Zechariah away but Zechariah wouldn’t let go.

"I’LL KILL YOU!" - Zechariah shouted at Oliver in anger.

"LET GO YOU BITCH!" - Linda yelled as she was being dragged by the hair.

"’AHHHHHHH!!" - Esther screamed as Linda bit her cheek.

Everyone was screaming and shouting while they were fighting.

"EVERYONE FUCKING STOP" - George yelled very loudly as he stopped the car and everyone stopped.

"I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU PEOPLE FIGHTING ALL DAY FUCKING LONG. I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS SHIT ANYMORE. I KEEP BEING OPTIMISTIC EVERY FUCKING DAY THAT ONE DAY THIS GROUP WILL GET A FUCKING GRIP, BUT IT ISN’T FUCKING WORKING. IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE EACH FUCKING DAY." - George finally has had it as everyone else stopped talking.

"I’M DONE WITH THIS GROUP. I AM SO FUCKING DONE." - George yelled as he got out of the car and walked quickly on the road.

Madison then quickly walked out.

"George wait!" - Madison yelled but George refused to listen.

"Please stop George!" - Madison once again tried to make him stop but he wouldn’t listen.

"George stop for my sake please" - Madison shouted as George finally stopped walking.

Madison then walked over to him.

"Where are you going?" - Madison asked.

"I’m leaving them. Can’t you fucking see? They’ve gone fucking insane. I can’t keep up with this shit anymore." - George replied in fury.

"So you’re just gonna run away?" - Madison continued.

"I’ve given them many chances but it isn’t working. I’ve been hoping and hoping but I see that there isn’t any hope for this group anymore." - George responded.

"You can change that. You can’t just go away, they’re your friends. You need to be here and put some sense into them. I know it’s hard, and I know it won’t get better within a day, but trust me, if you try hard enough, things will eventually become as you want them to be." - Madison advised George.

"I’ve tried that, but they just won’t listen. All they do is fight and fight all day and night" - George spoke.

"That’s why you need to stay and take charge, be the leader that you can be. Show force if you have to. Prove it to them that you can keep this group safe and going." - Madison replied.

"You want me to take the lead?" - George wondered.

"You have to. You’re brave, strong and smart. They need someone like you, someone who can control and lead things. That’s what this group is lacking. I see power in your eyes, I see strong leadership. You have the potential to be that person if you just try hard enough. Giving up ain’t the way to do it. Step up George, show them who you can truly be. Show them the beast that is inside you… Can you do that?" - Madison spoke to George in a deceiving and convincing voice.

"I… I’ll try" - George replied with a smooth voice while he looked at Madison in the eyes.

Then they both headed back to the car and got in.

"I.. I want everybody to listen to me. I know it’s been hard since this whole shit began, I’ve been with you for most of the part, I’ve witnessed that. But we can’t let that get to us, we have to be stronger than this. We have to become stronger so we can defeat the hell out there. If we are alone, then we are weak. But if we work together, we’ll beat this world. Let’s stop dwelling in the past, and let’s move forward. Looking back at things is never gonna help us achieve anything. We have to stop terrorizing each other, that’s not who we are. We need to start focusing on the real enemy, which are those things out there, and not us. We are NOT enemies. I want everyone here to make it, I want us to survive, and the only way to do it is if we work together. Do you understand me? We are in this long journey together." -  
George finished his speech while he looked Madison at the back as she smiled.

Everyone else remained very quiet as they listened at him.

"Just start the damn car" - Zechariah responded in an arrogant way.

George got very angry and he was about to say something but Madison gave him a sign with her look and that made George realize what he promised Madison and thankfully he remained calm and exhaled instead, so then he turned the car on and then they drove once again.

After driving for a while, the car ran out of gas, then they continued walking a little more and they found an old museum.

They approached the yard of the museum, and they were standing outside the museum gate. They saw walkers outside in the yard.

"This place looks comfortable. We could probably rest here for a while." - George claimed.

"I think that’s a good idea, but we need to clear out these infected first" - Linda responded.

"Alright, here’s what we’ll do. We will start by taking out those infected outside. Do not use your guns, only use your melee weapons. Try not to make any noise, and try to sneak behind them. That would be much easier." - Madison said.

"Zechariah, Linda, George and I will clear out the infected. While Esther and Oliver watch out for the soldier and make sure we’re okay. Everyone got it?" - Madison asked.

"Yes, good to go" - George answered.

"Yall are taking orders from her now?" - Zechariah whispered.

"Let’s just kill the damn infected" - Linda exhaled in frustration and boredom.

Madison, Linda, Zechariah and George were sneaking slowly and then executing the walkers. They continued to do so after they’ve cleared every walker outside.

After a while, Madison whistled and made it clear that the outside is clear; Esther and Oliver with the captured soldier walked to the area.

"Good job guys" - Oliver praised them.

"Everyone okay?" - Madison asked.

The people nodded.

"We need to check the inside of the museum to make sure we’re one hundred percent clear" - George spoke.

Madison and the group walked inside the museum, while they were all holding their weapons steady.

They checked the first floor of the museum, and the floor was clear.

"First floor is clear" - Oliver shouted.

Madison and the group went to the second floor to check.

The group killed some walkers upstairs and after they had killed the walkers, the second floor too was clear.

Madison walked into a room, and then she suddenly found a walker. She got down and slowly started approaching the walker behind.

When Madison got closer, she realized that the walker was eating a baby.

The group also was behind Madison and they also saw the walker eat a baby.

"Oh my God" - Esther said in boast as she was terrified of what she saw.

"Shh it’s okay baby" - Zechariah confronted her.

"This is fucked up" - Oliver spoke.

Madison was shocked and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The walker noticed them talking and it turned around seeing Madison. Then it walked towards Madison to kill her, but Madison put the walker out of its misery.

They all got closer to where the walker was eating the baby and they were all disgusted. Esther started to puke.

"Wow you okay?" - Madison asked.

"She’s very emotional" - Zechariah answered.

"I need water" - Esther spoke.

"Let’s go down, we’ll get water for you. You shouldn’t be seeing things like this." - George responded.

A shocked Madison looked at the baby that was torn apart.

She then looked more and she found a picture by the window. She took it and looked at it; and then she saw a mother with her baby in the picture, and she found out that the mother is the walker and the baby is her baby. Madison was left in shock.

Linda approached and looked at the picture too.

"Oh my God.." - She exhaled.

They were both looking at the picture with sadness in their eyes.

"And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat" - Linda sighed.

Madison looked at her in confusion.

"That’s from the Bible. Leviticus." - Linda responded.

"This is the punishment, Madison" - Linda spoke again.

"What are you talking about?" - Madison asked.

"This is the punishment from God to us. We have disobeyed God so much, and we’ve never stopped sinning. We have angered God... His promise is being fulfilled now." - Linda answered Madison’s question.

"I never thought I would see a mother feast on her child; her own flesh and blood.." - Linda spoke in sadness.

Madison listened to Linda’s words, and she felt sadness.

"Let’s toss the bodies outside." - Linda spoke.

Madison grabbed the mother and Linda grabbed the baby and they went outside and threw the bodies in the yard. Everyone else also dropped outside the bodies that were inside.

They gathered around the bodies and looked at them.

"What do we do?" - Oliver asked.

"We burn them, that’s what we do." - Zechariah responded.

"We can’t burn them, not these ones" - Linda spoke.  
"  
Why not? We’ve always burned the dead" - Zechariah continued.

"I know, but this is different." - Linda answered

"How is this different, Linda?" - Zechariah asked.  
"  
There’s a freaking child among them. The child is not infected" - Linda responded.

"I don’t care, it’s still dead. We burn it like we burn the rest" - Zechariah continued to be stubborn.

"Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean we don’t either. We are not burning them. We are burying them. Comeone, I saw some shovels in the hall" - Linda spoke.

"Didn’t you just hear what I said? We’re burning them" - Zechariah answered Linda.

"I had a daughter once I loved; and I could not imagine my own daughter like this; I couldn’t imagine having to burn her someday, like she was nothing but trash. And I am not letting someone else’s child either be burned like plastic; so for once quit being a jackass and be a decent human being" - Linda shouted at Zechariah.

Zechariah remained silent so did the rest of the group.

George then went and grabbed shovels for them to bury the graves. Madison, Oliver, George and Linda started to dig the graves; while Zechariah went inside and did not want to help.

After a while of digging, they had come halfway through.

Esther came outside and approached Madison.

"Hey Madison, how are you holding up?" - Esther asked.

"I am fine. What about you?" - Madison asked her back.

"I’m doing better" - Esther answered.

"I want to help with the bodies. Give me your shovel let me continue from now on"

"I am almost done, there’s no need" - Madison responded.

"Please I want to help. I want to do something useful. Please just let me do this." - Esther pledged.

Madison stopped for a second and thought about it.

Then she handled the shovel over to Esther and then she walked away.

Madison looked at Linda from a distance and she approached her while Linda was digging up a grave.

"Hey, are you okay?" - Madison asked.

Linda remained silent.

"I can take over if you want" - Madison offered to help.

"No, you need to rest. You’ve done so much already." - Linda responded.

"Please be fine. We need you to be fine. You are one of the strongest here. I know it’s hard, but at least try. I know you can. Please?" - Madison asked Linda to be strong.

Linda gave no answer and she continued to dig.

Madison then walked away and George called upon her.

"Do you think Linda’s okay?" - George asked.

"I don’t know, to be honest. She’s in pain, I can tell" - Madison answered.

"I know. Losing a child is a hard thing. I could imagine. Seeing that dead kid made things only worse." - George spoke.

Madison remained silent.

"So you still thinking of taking off?" - George asked.

"I don’t know yet. I know I have to find my kids. I have to. That’s a promise I made to myself." - Madison answered.

"I fully understand you. But on the other side, you’ve been very helpful to us. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. I and the rest truly appreciate it." - George thanked Madison.

"Clearly not everyone is happy with me being here" - Madison spoke.

"They’ll just have to deal with it then" - George smiled.

Madison also smiled.

"I wanted to talk about food. If we’re gonna stay here for a while, we’re gonna need to need food. We don’t happen to have a lot left, and what’s left is mostly canned food. I’m sick of eating canned food" - George spoke.

"I don’t have a lot of food left either, all I have is fruit and canned beans." - Madison replied.

"Ah that sucks. Man, I miss me a real dish. Like fish and chips or shit like that" - George replied.

"Who doesn’t miss that kind of luxury?" - Madison replied.

"Fish and Chips is definitely luxury compared to what we’ve been eating since this shit started" - George told Madison.

"Also hey, thank you for giving me encouragement back there and making me realize who I can truly be. That helped me a lot. You’re a blessing Madison Clark" - George thanked Madison for supporting him earlier.

Suddenly they heard a scream from the inside which sounded like Zechariah’s voice.

Madison and the rest went inside to check things out and they found out that Zechariah had been arguing with the soldier who was captive.

"What are you doing?" - Madison asked.

"I’m trying to find out where the military is located, so we could save our asses." - Zechariah responded.

"You are so confident Zechariah. How do you know the military would take you in the first place?" - Linda asked.

"This guy said that they are taking civilians in" - Zechariah answered.

"Is that true?" - Madison asked the soldier.

"Yes it is true. They are spreading out in the country and are making quarantines everywhere possible." - The soldier spoke.

"I thought the military fell" - George stepped in.

"Many soldiers fell. But there are still many left." - The soldier said.

"Where are they located?" - Linda asked.

"Their main base is in Washington D.C. But they’ve been sending people all across the country. Texas, California, Oregon, Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida" - The soldier answered.

"Is Washington safe?" - Linda asked

"They are working on making it safe." - The soldier responded.

"See guys. The military is still active. They could be a lifesaver. We have to find them" - Zechariah suggested.

"And how are you planning on doing that?" - George asked.

"Are you that stupid boy? We’ll go to one of their bases, that’s how we find them." - Zechariah answered.

"You are gonna travel state to state to just find them? How do you even know they’re stable?" - Linda spoke.

"And that is why we need to go there to see it for ourselves. Texas is our closest bet" - Zechariah spoke.

"Texas? - Madison asked.

"I met a guy who was going to Texas. He said there was a community there. He might have referred to the army." - Madison spoke.

"So there is a chance, see?" - Zechariah answered.

"We’ll think about that" - Madison told him.

"You think about it, I’m not thinking. Texas is where I and the group are going. Period. Don’t bother me" - Zechariah spoke as he left the room.

"Don’t pay attention to what that asshole said" - Linda referred to Zechariah.

George exhaled in frustration.

"I am sorry George..my bad" - Linda apologized because she remembered George’s speech earlier.

"Guys, I found a map" - Oliver spoke.

Madison took the map and looked at it.

"So this museum is called Sonora Desert Museum" - Oliver spoke.

"Tucson is just around the corner" - George claimed.

"Oh thank God there is a town close by. We need to get stuff" - Linda said.

"I’ll make a run into town" - Madison claimed.

"I’ll come with you" - George offered to help.

"Let me come with you instead" - the soldier spoke.

They looked at the soldier.

"Please, let me contribute to your group. I’m here now, so let me help" - the soldier offered to help.

"Are you gonna trust him?" - Linda asked.

"I don’t know. But if he wants to help, let him show what he can do. He’s coming with me" - Madison accepted the soldier’s offer.  
Madison freed the soldier.

"Wow, wow, are you serious? How are you gonna let that man walk free?" - Zechariah boasted.

"What’s the matter?" - Madison wondered.

"What’s the matter? That man’s people tried to kill us, how can we trust this guy without having to worry that he might stab us to death?" - Zechariah showed his concern.

"If he tries anything, I’ll be there to make sure he never does it again. Besides, weren’t you the one chatting to him about his people and how you are taking the group to Texas, where his people are?" - Madison asked.

"Listen here you, that is different. Those words were directed to a handcuffed man, not a man that roams around free" - Zechariah spoke.

"He is going to roam free with me, deal with it. We’ll put the handcuffs on him again when we return." - Madison responded.

"When you fuck up for everyone in this group, you are not staying here one more minute, get that? You put Esther or anyone else in danger, I swear to God Imma put you out of your misery myself." - Zechariah threatened Madison.

A frustrated George walked up to Zechariah and was about to scold him but Madison put her arm in front of George which stopped and calmed him.

Madison listened to Zechariah’s threat and remained silent while Zechariah walked away.

"Thank you. Can I have my gun back? Just so I could protect myself out there." - the Soldier spoke.

"You mean this baby?" - Linda showed the M4 gun that belonged to the soldier.

"You soldiers really have beautiful guns, I’ll give you that" - Linda liked the gun.

"No. I’m giving you a knife, that’s enough. And besides, you have to earn my trust." - Madison gave him a knife instead.

They packed their stuff and they went outside as they were ready to leave.

"You really want to do this with him? Let me come, Madison, just in case" - George was concerned.

"It’s fine. If anything happens, I’ll handle it. Besides, you gotta stay here and have everyone under control. Especially Zechariah" - Madison replied.

"Be safe Madison" - Oliver wished Madison good luck.

Madison nodded. "C’mon, let’s go" - as she told the soldier to go.

Madison and the soldier were walking on the highway towards Tucson while Madison had the map with her.

"Have you been with these people for a long time?" - The soldier asked Madison.

"A week" - Madison replied.

"Do you trust them?" - The soldier continued.

"Not all of them." - Madison responded again.

"I think I know who you don’t trust. Yeah, that old dude talks too much. I can imagine having him bother you guys 24/7" - The soldier spoke.

"I am David, by the way" - the soldier introduced himself.

"You already got my name" - Madison replied.

"So where are you from?" - David asked.

"Does it matter?" - Madison spoke.

"You’re still here, aren’t you?" - David asked again.  
"I am not here to answer questions. Just focus on the task." - Madison spoke.

"Look I know you don’t trust me, but I mean no harm to you." - David wants Madison to trust him.

"I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you’re capable of either. So yeah, you’ll have to give me a valid reason to why I should trust you. Now walk faster" - Madison responded.

"You’re one tough woman, Madison. You have more balls than all of those men in that group combined." - David appreciated Madison’s bravery.

"We should really be focusing on the task. Compliment me later, okay? You’re a soldier, you’re supposed to know how to concentrate" - Madison replied

"Roger that. I just thought I had the opportunity to tell you how powerful you are" - David replied.

"I am not flattered by your compliments, so you don’t need to compliment me that much if you think my feelings are gonna change because of it. I don’t let my feelings influence my actions" - Madison replied.

"Ye’s ma’am" - David responded.

"Ma’am? Really?" - Madison wondered.

"What can I say, I’m a soldier." - David spoke.

Madison looked at him and continued to walk.

They finally approached the city and they were looking for places to find supplies.

"There’s no one in this town" - David spoke.

"You won’t believe how the dead appear outta nowhere. Eyes open, stay close" - Madison replied.

"Roger that ma’am" - David listened to Madison.

They went to store after store but they couldn’t find much.

"This place is picked up clean too." - David spoke.

"We have to keep looking, we can’t stop now" - Madison responded.

"Madison, I’m sorry that I tried to kill you when I first met you. I am truly sorry" - David apologized to Madison.

"I get it. It’s survival all the fittest." - Madison replied.

"I-" - David began to speak but then they heard some voices.

They sneaked out of the store and looked outside.

"Where is that coming from? - David wondered.

They heard the voices again.

"Let’s follow the noise" - Madison said.

Then they started to follow the voices and then as they were walking they saw two men from a distance.

"Back up" - Madison spoke as they hid behind a wall.

They were watching the men as the men were killing walkers.

The men continued to walk.

"What do we do?" - David asked.

"Let’s follow them, see where they lead us" - Madison responded as they began to follow the men.

As they were following them, they saw big gates and fences ahead of them.

They saw guards on the top of the fences as the men were walking towards the gates.

"This is a settlement of some sort, they have walls and guards" - Madison spoke.

"Should we approach the guards?" - David asked.

"It can go either way, I don’t wanna take chances" - Madison replied.

"So do we continue looking or do we head back to the museum?" - David wondered.

Madison thought for a minute.

"No, we sneak in and find what we can" - Madison spoke.

"Sneak in? How are we gonna do that?" - David thought.

"Let’s find a way in." - Madison replied.  
"This is dangerous Madison. We can’t sneak in, they’ll kill us if they capture us." - David wasn’t fond of Madison’s plan.

"Do you wanna stay hungry for another day or do you want your tummy to be full? - Madison asked.

"I" - David struggled to answer.

"Fine." - David finally agreed.

They sneaked their way through at the back of the base.

Madison got her tools out of her back and cut the wire and sneaked in.

"Stay close and find anything you can. Hum if you need help" - Madison spoke.

They both got into a building inside the base and started searching for useful supplies.

Madison got into the armory and found a lot of guns.

She took some guns and ammo from the armory.

As she was searching more, she heard a hum from David.

She got her weapon out and went to look for David.

Madison saw someone from a distance and she started to sneak on the person, it was too dark, and she couldn’t see who the person was, so she took out her weapon and was ready to attack the person.

"STOP IT’S ME!" - David stopped her.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me. Why did you hum? I told you to hum if you only needed help." - Madison replied.  
"Sorry!" - David apologized.

"Did you find anything?" - Madison asked.

David opened a door that led to the stockroom.

"Holy mother of God" - Madison was surprised to see so much food.

"It’s a miracle, isn’t it?" - David spoke.

"This food could keep us alive for months" - Madison replied.

"These people know what they’re doing. It explains why every store in the town is empty. These people must have taken all of it" - David explained.

"Start grabbing as much food as you can. We’re eating tonight" - Madison smiled.

Madison and David started to grab as much food as they could.

"What are you doing?" - Madison asked David as she saw he had a pen in his hand.

"Um, I found this pen. It could come in handy, you never know!" - David explained himself.

They heard someone coming to the stockroom and they hid quickly.

"Oh baby you’re so gorgeous" - said the man to the woman who came to the stockroom.

The man started to make love to the woman.

"Wait. This doesn’t feel right. What if Joel finds out, Ron? He will kill us both" - The woman spoke in concern.

"Don’t worry, it’ll only take a minute. It’s okay Jessie, I’ll keep you safe no matter what" - A confident Ron replied to Jessie.

They started to take off their clothes as they also started to make love. Madison tried to look at what they were doing but she quickly hid again because of the things she was seeing.

"Oh my God" - David exhaled.

The two people continued making love in Madison and David’s presence, the weirdness and awkwardness between Madison and David was intense.

"That’s it, let’s go" - Madison grabbed David’s arm and they quickly managed to get outside the safe zone.

Madison and David started to head out to the museum and they started to talk in their way.

"Those people back at that place.. That was something else" - David started to mumble.

"Shut up and keep walking. Don’t talk to me about it, it’s just.." - Madison felt super weird and so did David.

They finally arrived at the Museum.

"Guys, they’re back!" - Oliver chanted as he was guarding the place.

The group came outside to meet Madison and David.

"So how did it go guys?" - George asked.

They showed their bags full of supplies.

"Holy shit, you found all of this? So fucking cool" - George was overjoyed.

"Not bad" - Zechariah spoke.

"Not bad? She’s been more useful than you’ve ever been. And she’s only been with us for a week" - Linda responded.

"Fuck off" - Zechariah responded as he got inside.

"Old fucker" - Linda claimed.

"Linda for real?" - George was annoyed.

"Sorry sorry!!" - Linda responded.

"Just stop teasing him.. please?" - George nicely asked her.

"You know that’s impossible" - Linda replied as George furiously looked at her.

"I’ll try, I’ll try!" - Linda replied.

"And wow good job Madison, you’re a gem, I mean it" - Linda praised Madison.

"I couldn’t have done it alone. This is David’s work too. " - Madison replied.

"David huh? I see you two exchanged words" - Linda noticed.  
"  
Yeah we did. We saw some weird things too" - David spoke.

Madison looked at him. "Just stop" - Madison replied.

"Sorry!" - David apologized.

David then returned inside.

"Weird things? What are yall on about?" - Linda asked.

"It’s nothing" - Madison replied.

"It definitely is something, tell me what happened out there" - Linda was wondering.

"Please.." - Madison did not want to talk about what she saw.

"Cmon now" - Linda was trying to convince Madison to talk.

"Uh, well. While we were looting, um, two people came in and.. um" - Madison was mumbling.

"And what?" - Linda asked.

"And they suddenly started to um.. umm well, have fun." - Madison spoke.

"Fun?" - Linda asked.

"Yeah fun.. like very explicit fun.." - Madison continued.

"Ohh shit I see where you’re getting at" - Linda understood.

"Holy shit you saw them have sex live?" - Linda asked.

George started laughing.

"What are you laughing about? That’s freaking awesome. I could imagine it must have been weird with you and David to be stuck in the same room as they" - Linda spoke.

"Yeah, that was the most awkward moment in my life" - Madison replied.

"Wow. You have really seen some shit today. Man, I need to get laid big time." - Linda confessed.

"I’ll fix that" - George replied.

Madison looked at them weirdly.

"Oh um, I didn’t know you guys were together" - Madison with a weird and confused look.

"We’re not. He just helps me fulfill my needs, if you get what I’m saying" - Linda replied while she smiled.

Madison continued to look at them in a weird way.

"What’s wrong?" - Linda asked Madison.

"It’s nothing. I just thought you were religious and all" - Madison replied.

"Oh I am, but even the children of God need to have fun in these times, don’t they?" - Linda spoke.

"I guess.." - Madison responded.

Linda took George’s hands and went upstairs. "Call us when dinner’s ready" - Linda said to Madison.

Madison got to where Oliver, Esther, Zechariah and David were at.  
"  
Hey Madison, thank you for bringing us so much food. I can’t believe I’m eating again. I haven’t had a meal like this in days." - Esther thanked Madison.  
Madison nodded.

"So what do you think of the soldier guy here?" - Esther asked Madison regarding David.

"I don’t know yet. He is a skilled survivor, that’s for sure" - Madison replied.

"As long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, he’s fine." - Esther spoke.

"And Madison, I am sorry I was rude to you back at the hospital. I didn’t mean any of it. I was just trying to protect us and I didn’t know you and I do have trust issues. So please, I’m sorry for being so rude to you back then." - Esther apologized to Madison.

"Don’t be sorry, I would have been the same. I get it, you were watching out for your people. It’s not easy to trust any stranger these days. I’ve been there before, I know how it is." - Madison answered.  
"Oh thank you, cool. Please don’t mind Zechariah either. I know he gets on people's nerves often, but he is not a bad guy. He is just trying to protect everyone." - Esther spoke.

"He has a very funny way of showing that affection" - Madison replied.

"I know, I know. I’ve been trying hard to help him with his anger. But it’s not something that can get fixed quickly, it requires time. So I want you to understand me and him. Please?" - Esther replied.

Madison nodded.

Madison looked at David who was in handcuffs in a corner alone.

''I’m going to make dinner. I’ll make you guys a soup that you’ll love." - Esther spoke.

"I’ll help you Esther. Let me get the fire started" - Oliver volunteered to help Esther.

"I am so sorry Oliver about before.. Please.. I lost control" - Esther apologized to Oliver.

"Already forgotten, like George said, we can’t dwell in the past." - Oliver smiled while Esther hugged him and they went to prepare the food.

"You’re a lucky woman, Madison Clark" - Zechariah spoke to Madison.

"What do you mean?" - Madison wondered.

"This food is just luck. Don’t think bringing this food changes anything between us. I still see you as a threat and nothing but trouble. I know your kind pretty well, I know what you’re capable of doing. I’ve seen it." - Zechariah spoke.

"Take your sermon elsewhere Zechariah." - Madison was annoyed by him.

"Just letting you know that I know who you are" - Zechariah warned Madison.

"I know who I am, I don’t need you to tell me that. I am proud of who I am, you should be proud too Zechariah. Look at the bright side pal. Be glad you’re still alive, and thank these people who are the reason why you’re alive." - Madison answered.

"I’ve made it all by myself. I’m strong, I don’t need anyone to keep me safe and sound. I have kept this group alive all this time. You know nothing about me or this group, you’re just someone who’s gonna disappear anytime soon know. Because I know your kind. You all run away at the end because you care about no one but your fucking selves." - Zechariah responded.

"You know nothing about me, mr. I suggest you keep your nose away from me. Mind your own business and be grateful these people tolerate your nonsense because I sure hell wouldn’t. Be grateful there are still tolerant people in this fucked up world, otherwise you would have been a dead meat a long time ago, and that is the fucking truth, whether you like it or not, I don’t give a fuck. I don’t wanna destroy George’s dream of making this group stable, otherwise you’d have seen a very different side of me.. Got it?" - Madison responded as everyone else looked at them.

"Dude you need to leave her alone. She’s doing nothing wrong. Stop bossing her around, you’re annoying everyone" - David answered Zechariah.

"Excuse me?" - Zechariah spoke.

"David, don’t" - Madison tried to calm David.

"David? You know this clown’s name? I’m very curious, what more do you know about him? God knows what you’ve told each other. Maybe yall are planning to fuck us over or pull a trick on us, but you will fail. I got my eyes on you. I won’t let you do shit" - Zechariah answered Madison.

"Can you shut your fucking mouth? What the fuck do you want from her? Don’t you understand that you’re very annoying and unfunny? Zip it dude" - David was angered with Zechariah.

"You shut the fuck up or I’ll kick your god damn teeth in" - Zechariah threatened David.

"I’d like to see you that you hillbilly asshole" - David answered him.

"Oh that’s it. I’ll show you now, you fucking pig" - Zechariah approached David and was ready to attack him but Madison stopped him.

"Back off" - Madison told off Zechariah.

The people were looking at Zechariah and Madison.

"Can you two please knock it off? Can we all just have a peaceful night just for once? Haven’t y’all gotten tired of these fights? Because I have. Aren’t we already dealing with much worse shit like how to survive? Please I beg you, for once, just once, stop fighting, and try not to get in each other’s way? Please let’s be better than this.. let’s remind ourselves what George said.. please" - Esther begged them to stop.

Madison looked at Esther and gave her a smile and knew that Esther has finally started to realize that being negative means only trouble and then she let go of 

Zechariah’s fist and then he went away.

A while after this event, Esther hollered that the food is done.

"Meal is ready everyone!" - Esther shouted.

Madison and Oliver got up to the table and sat

"Where is George and Linda?" - Esther asked.

"They’ll come" - Madison answered.

Esther served them soup and she went and gave Zechariah a bowl too as he sat elsewhere and refused to sit at the same table with the others.

Not long after, George and Linda came down.

"Oh soup. Yummy" - George admired the soup.

"You guys look like a mess" - Esther noticed George and Linda’s looks.

"Uh, we do?" - George claimed in awkwardness as Madison and Oliver looked at them

"You are so gross" - Oliver was disgusted after he realized Linda and George had sex.

"You’re never gonna get this sweetie. You can crave pussy but ain’t ever gonna get one, so sad.." - Linda joked with a silly face Oliver while they all laughed and then  
she sat down with George at the table.

"You definitely have no shame or respect, wow. I don’t know what George sees in you." - Oliver replied.

"She rocks my world bro. You should see the things she does to me in bed. First she pulls my pants down and opens her mouth and-" - George started to tease Oliver as then Oliver interrupted him.

"Okay that’s enough I don’t wanna hear more of your disgusting sex time. Ew disgusting" - Oliver replied in disgust while the others continued to smirk.

"Are you a virgin by any chance Oliver?" - Linda asked.

"Wait why.. I mean no" - Oliver replied.

"Well you sound like one. But if you’re lying then don’t worry cuz I’ll help you with that." - Linda winked.

"What.. What’s that supposed to mean?" - Oliver wondered.

Linda then suddenly sat on Oliver’s lap facing him.

"I’ll let you fuck my pussy baby, that’s what I mean" - Linda then grabbed his hand and moved it against her ass as Oliver was left shocked.

"You like that don’t you bad boy?" - Linda replied with a kinky look while Oliver blushed and got a very awkward feeling and the others laughed, Linda then got up from his lap and sat on a chair.

"Man you.. I" - Oliver had no words.

"You guys are kinky as hell" - Madison replied with a smirk.

"And you’re not? Yeah right, you got that look that says ‘Fuck me so hard until your dick breaks inside of me" - Linda replied while the others laughed and Oliver continued to blush of awkwardness.

"You’re right about that.." - Madison responded in a low voice.

"Oh not you too" - Oliver replied in disgust.

"Dayummm" - George replied surprised..

"Fuck yeah!! kinky girl" - Linda replied while they all laughed. 

After a couple of laughs they finally began to eat.

"Oh lord I’ve not tasted something as good as this in a long time" - Oliver was pleased.

"This is amazing Esther, great job." - Madison praised Esther’s cooking.

"Man I can’t remember the last time I had a hot meal" - George spoke.

Esther looked at Linda and Linda noticed that.

"You okay Esther?" - Linda asked Esther as Madison, Oliver and George looked at Esther.

"Yeah.. I’m fine.." - Esther replied with a low tone.

"You wanna tell me something?" - Linda continued.

"Um" - Esther started mumbling.

"I’m so sorry that I pulled your hair back then.. I wasn’t myself. That was incredibly stupid of me." - Esther apologized.

"It’s okay, but hey we’re even cuz I bit your cheek. I bit it like it was a dick.

"What the fuck?" - Oliver looked at Linda in a weird way while the others laughed. 

"I hope your cheek is feeling alright though. Hope I didn’t cause too much pain cuz I’m an expert af causing pain.. Just ask George when I suck him off all night in  
bed, sometimes my teeth get in there too" - Linda sarcasticly joked as she looked at Oliver and the others laughed out loud.

"You’re just disgusting" - Oliver replied while he started to laugh a little bit too.

"Well my disgusting talk is making you laugh boy.. so I’m having a good impact on you after all" - Linda smiled while Oliver smiled too and so did the others. 

"You’re just something else" - Oliver grinned and shook his head, eating while the others grinned as well.

"I can’t deny that sir" - Linda replied with a shady and funny look.

They were all feeling good and happy for the first time in quite a long time.

"So Madison, you’ve been with us for a while now, like a week or so. How do you like it?" - Linda asked.

"You are fine people, well with some exceptions of course" - Madison replied.

"Eat more, less talk woman" - Zechariah responded in a loud voice as he heard them talk.

"Jeez Zechariah calm down, you don’t have to be a police keeping a close eye at whatever we say or do" - George got annoyed with Zechariah.

"Maybe you people shouldn’t keep me in your mouths so much and maybe I wouldn’t trouble you" - Zechariah talked.

George rolled his eyes while the others got annoyed by Zechariah too.

"So Madison, you’re from L.A. How is L.A?" - Oliver asked.

"It’s pretty fun actually, well was. One big city, we barely got out" - Madison spoke.

"What happened to L.A?" - Linda asked.

"The military napalmed the city. Killed whatever was in it. It was horrible, I remember watching the city burn as we were leaving.. it was a big mess." - Madison spoke.

"Wow, who could have thought the government would have been so cruel? I thought they would try to help the people and figure out whatever this thing, virus  
whatever it is." - Oliver responded.

"Oh really? I bet the government is behind this virus or whatever it is." - Linda responded.

"You’re kidding, right?" - George answered surprised what he was hearing. 

"I am not kidding" - Linda spoke.

"Why would the government be behind it?" - Madison was curious.

"Isn’t it weird that the government backed off as soon as this thing started? Some people say the government fell. I don’t believe that. I mean, haven’t you noticed that  
they have done nothing to prevent more of those dead infected bastards from killing human beings? The military disappeared, and they let the infection spread. If they wanted to, they could have killed all of these things. They are professionals, they got a lot of trained people with hella good weapons and shit. Think about it, couldn’t they have stopped this all?" - Linda responded.

"Now that you put it like that, it makes more sense. But still, why would the government hurt it’s own people?" - Madison asked.

"Why would any government hurt their people, Madison? Stalin, Hitler, and all of these dictators destroyed their own people. Now you may ask why, well I don’t know the exact answer to that. But don’t pretend like the government is a holy place filled with angels, because it is not. God knows what agenda they may have. Whatever it is, they will have to answer for all of this someday." - Linda spoke her mind.

"Whatever this thing is, I hope it ends someday. Because I really do miss my hot showers" - George responded.

"Oh stop now, you’re gonna make me drool over that shit" - Linda responded.

"Yeah a hot nice shower would definitely come in handy these days" - Oliver spoke.

"What do you miss the most about the old world, Madison?" - George asked.

"My family. When we still were a family and lived like one. And I do miss my students. Never thought I’d say it, but there you go" - Madison answered.

"Ah those little shits are nothing but useless waste of energy. I don’t understand how you could have dealt with them." - Oliver spoke.

"I got used to them. I got to understand them. They needed help, and I was glad to be there and offer them the help that they needed" - Madison said.

"What about you Oliver, we haven’t gotten much to know about you." - Madison asked Oliver.

"I miss my cocker spaniel most. He was just the cutest. So fluffy and so cute. He was pretty dumb though. He went and humped an old lady’s dog in the neighborhood  
and made her with puppies, and boy did we have problems with that lady" - Oliver spoke.

"At least that dog humped someone, unlike you" - Linda joked.

"Shut up Linda, you don’t know my life" - Oliver responded.

"That is why I’m assuming things" - Linda gave a shady look..

"I miss my girlfriend. I feel like I never told her how much I appreciated her. How much I loved her and how thankful I was for her. I always regret that I wasn’t able to  
make her happier, you know. Be there for her more, in both good and bad times. But now I realize my mistakes, even though it’s late. - George spoke.

"What happened to her?" - Madison asked.

"The same thing that happens to everybody" - George answered.

"I‘m sorry" - Linda responded while the others felt sad for George.

"I miss my crack" - Linda confessed.

"What the hell? " - George replied.

"And I thought you were a believer" - Madison responded.

"Hey the Bible doesn’t say "Thou shall not smoke crack" - Linda replied.

"I used to smoke once in a while, whenever I felt stressed out because of work or whatever it might have been. I would find the opportunity when no one was home.  
Man that shit helped me get through hard times.

But also it cost my marriage." - Linda spoke.

"Oh" - Madison replied.

"Yeah. Hubby didn’t know I did drugs, and when he found out he freaked out, he didn’t understand why I did it. He just couldn’t understand the idea that crack helped me deal with stress and shit. Now I don’t know if that’s true or not because I am not a crack scientist, but it did help me" - Linda spoke.

"I hope we can all return to do the things we once loved to do." - George answered.

"Amen praise Jesus!" - Linda spoke in a loud funny voice as everyone shared a laugh.

"Y’all are a bunch of raven weirdos" - Zechariah boasted from a distance.

"Relax grandpa. A little positivity could change your life, trust me"- Linda responded.

"Ugh" - Zechariah exhaled.

"Hey guys. Has the soldier guy eaten anything?" - Esther asked.

They looked at the soldier sitting in the corner tied to handcuffs.

"I feel bad for him. Thanks to him we’re eating tonight" - Linda felt bad.

"We should invite him to the table" - Oliver spoke.

"Are you fucking nuts? He’s not one of us, he can’t be sitting with us. Just like Madison shouldn’t either." - Zechariah shouted as he walked over to the table.

"Grow a heart Zechariah. And you’re not even sitting with us" - George responded.

"Don’t get me started you nigge-"- Zechariah continued to show his racism.

"Hey shut it" - Linda stopped him before he could racially abuse him. Zechariah then walked away.

George tried to get up as he got very mad but Madison grabbed his fist and calmed him down once again.

"Esther fill me a bowl, I’ll go and feed him." - Madison spoke.

Esther filled a bowl with food and Madison went over to give him food.

Madison approached and sat next to David.

"Here, I got you" - Madison started to feed David.

"We wanted you to sit with us, you know. Eat comfortably" - Madison spoke.

"I know. I heard the conversation" - David replied.

"I am sorry you had to listen to some of it" - Madison continued.

"Eh don’t be. I know assholes like him. Seen enough of them in the army" - David talked about Zechariah.

"Thank you for sticking up for me back then. I really appreciated that. From the bottom of my heart" - Madison felt appreciative.

"It was nothing. You don’t deserve to be bugged every second by that old hillbilly, none of you deserve that." - David answered.

"You asked me before where I was from. I’m from LA." - Madison replied.

"L.A? That’s great. I’m from Kentucky" - David answered.

"So what are you doing in Arizona?" - Madison asked David.

"We were sent on a mission from Texas. They ordered us to kill every infected possible. They’re planning to exterminate every infected in the country, so that they can  
put an end to this apocalypse" - David answered.

"So their plan is to just kill them?" - Madison asked.

"That’s what they’re thinking" - David responded.

"How are they gonna fix the bigger issue which is that people are infected no matter if you’re bit or not. I hope you know that you turn no matter how you die." -  
Madison answered.

"Is that true? For fuck’s sake" - David felt angry.

"Hey, calm down now" - Madison spoke.

"This virus is more serious than I thought. If they haven’t figured it out yet, I must let them know" - David answered.

"Are you planning to go back to Texas?" - Madison asked.

"Of course. I plan to meet up with them. I belong to the military. I can’t betray my people there. I have to fight for this country. My love for this country is what made  
me become a soldier. What made me walk around waving the American flag proudly. The people of this country made me what I am today. Caring and protecting  
these people means everything to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to destroy these things and restore humanity and save this beloved country" - David answered.  
"Thank you for protecting us for years now, You guys put your lives at risk trying to protect us. Thank you. And I hope you guys will be able to bring back the good ol ' America" - Madison smiled as David nodded and smiled.

"So have any relatives or friends or something similar?" - Madison asked.

"I have a boyfriend, who is in Texas. He’s a soldier as well. I am sure he’s worried now. And I’m worrying about him as well." - David answered.

"You know why we had to bring you with us.. you would have died if we left you back there. And your people started shooting at us for no reason.." - Madison spoke.

"Your guy shouldn’t have shouted like that. They might have thought you were infected or so" - David answered.

"Can they not tell the difference between a human being and an infected?" - Madison asked.

"I- I don’t know. But I am sure it wasn’t intentional. They would never harm anyone innocent" - David spoke.

"I sure hope that is the case" - Madison responded.

Madison kept feeding him and he was enjoying the meal.

"Do you want more?" - Madison asked.

"I’m good thank you" - David replied.

Madison then started to walk away but David spoke.

"Madison, thank you for you know, taking care of me. I really appreciate it" - David thanked Madison.

"Don’t mention it" - Madison replied.

Everyone was finally finished with their meal.

"I think it’s time for everyone to get some sleep, we’ve worked hard today. You all deserve to rest now" - George spoke.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea" - Oliver responded.

"That’s what we all need now.. goodnight everyone" - Esther wished everyone a good night.

"Goodnight" - Linda replied.

Madison went to sleep and she started to dream.

"Mom, please go, they are looking for you, they will find you. They have me with them. " - Alicia appeared in Madison’s dream.

"Deliver us from this hell mom, I know you are the only person who is capable of saving us" - Nick also appeared in the dream.

The dream kept going on and after a while Madison woke up from it in shock.

Madison looked around and saw there was no one there. She then woke up and went outside to get fresh air, and looking around she was Linda outside.

"Linda?" - Madison saw Linda outside.

"You’re awake" - Linda realized Madison was outside too.

"I couldn’t sleep." - Linda spoke.

Madison then walked over to Linda and sat down with her.

Linda offered Madison a cigar, and then she took it and they both started to smoke.

"I was thinking how George almost abandoned us today" - Linda spoke.

"But be glad that he didn’t" - Madison replied.

"I’m not mad at him, he had every right to leave. I can’t blame him." - Linda exhaled.

"You think leaving was gonna solve anything?" - Madison asked.

"Oh that’s a big no but.. George’s always trying to do the best for us and what does he get in return? Countless fights.. He’s the backbone of this group, he deserves  
better than this. He saved me when I needed help the most, hadn’t he found me I’d be dead by now." - Linda responded.

"He saved you from what?" - Madison wondered.

"From these lowlife inbred scum that were trying to kill me.. I ran as much as I could and until I had nowhere to go, and they had surrounded me. I thought I’d die at that point, there was no chance in hell I imagined that I’d survive. But then George showed up.. and he just killed them all.. He saved my life." - Linda spoke about how George saved her while Madison looked at Linda and listened to her.

"That’s why you gotta support him, especially these days. Be there for him. Try to make things better, even if you don’t want to. Just try. Do it for his sake. - Madison replied while Linda nodded.

They both remained silent while the wind blew and the lightness of the moon covered the museum. Madison looked around and had a worried look.

"You okay?" - Linda noticed her worried look.

"I had a dream" - Madison replied.

"What was it about?" - Linda asked.

"My kids. I saw my kids in the dream" - Madison replied.

" I didn’t understand it well" - Madison continued.

"They say dreams can be explained" - Linda spoke.

"I dream about my daughter a lot" - Linda continued.

"I’m sorry that you lost her." - Madison felt sorry.

"I see her beautiful face, and her long, golden hair and her soft voice. It makes me realize how much I miss her. How much I miss her calling me moma, or saying  
moma I love you, or moma you’re amazing, moma you’re beautiful. You know? I miss all of those things" - Linda replied.

"Do you mind telling me how she died?" - Madison asked.

Linda exhaled while she had pain carrying inside of her.

"We were with a group, and we were attacked by another. We tried to get out, and I did. But she.." - Linda stopped.

".... While we were running, she fell down and got her leg stuck. I couldn’t get her to move, the raiders were getting closer and closer, the dead on the other side were approaching us, I was so scared. After a couple of attempts to save her, I ran away. I remember how she screamed "Mom, wait for me! Please mom don’t let me die" and I just kept running like a coward.  
I remember the look on her face.. It almost felt like she was disappointed at her own mother.. I was a coward that day.. I can’t believe I was trying to save my own skin only. I was selfish and I gave up on my own flesh and blood... I’ve felt so much guilt since then, I’ve never been the same... I wish I could have done something, I...-" - 

Linda started to cry while telling the story.

Madison hugged Linda to confront her.

"It’s okay, don’t cry.." - Madison confronted her.

" I gave birth to her when I was very young, I was only 15. I.. When I was young, men used to buy me all the time.. my family was very poor. My mom couldn’t work  
because she was blind, and my dad had died. My two younger sisters needed food and supplies for school and we had none of that.. We didn’t get a lot of support from the state either, so I had to step up and be the adult of the house at a young age. I tried to find normal jobs but nobody would hire a 15 year old, so the only way to feed my family was to be dragged around like a sex toy by older men in the motels of Macedonia... I grew up and lived in Macedonia before I moved to the US when I was 20.. My whole life changed when I came here, for the better. My daughter finally got a bright future in this country, you know. I found my lovely husband, and lived together happily for a long time.. But then.. this shit started.. and now.." - Linda stopped and exhaled.

"Her name was Mila.. She was only 16. She was supposed to be the future of this world, just like the other kids. She was supposed to live, not to end up like she was nothing.. I never had any complaints about her. She always did well in school and had big dreams... She loved to draw. She would draw so many drawings, and they were all so beautiful. I miss her everyday. I miss her so much" - Linda told more of her story in a sad-crying voice, Madison was very saddened to hear Linda’s story.

"I’m very sorry for everything that you’ve been through since you were a young child, you’ve had a tough life, I can see that…  
And your daughter, she must have been a gem. A daughter that everyone would love to have. Be proud of who she was. Her death is not your fault, you were scared just like any human being would be in that kind of situation. You acted out of fear. But don’t let that get to you. I know losing a child is horrible, I can imagine... I lost a daughter too, my second child, after my son, but she was still unborn. I remember the pain I went through when the doctors told me she had died. I felt like it was my fault for some reason. My husband always wanted a daughter, and the look on his face when he found out she had died was the saddest and hurt face I’d ever seen in my entire life...It was like the world had fallen apart on him.. But not long after, we were blessed with our daughter Alicia. I know how it is to lose a child, that’s why I don’t know what I would do If I find out that my children are gone.. I refuse to believe that... I need to find them, I have to find them. I promised myself  
that I would." - Madison told part of her story.

"You are strong Madison, and I’m sure your kids are too. You will find them, you’ll see." - Linda gave hope to Madison.

"Thank you for listening and being supportive, I really appreciate it." - Linda thanked Madison.

"Anytime sweetheart. Anyway, it’s getting cold, let’s get inside and get some rest, you need it. I need it. We’ve all been through so much, let’s for once try to  
peacefully sleep, alright?" - Madison spoke.

They went to sleep again. Everything was so peaceful, they all felt like they finally would get a peaceful night. After a while, Madison started to dream again.

"Mom, get up now!" - Alicia appeared again.

"It’s time to wake up, mom. Wake up. Wake up." - Nick also appeared.

Madison suddenly woke up from her sleep. She looked around and realized that everyone was asleep. It was a cold dark night with a strong wind blowing. 

Suddenly she started hearing vehicle noises approaching the museum. She got up and looked outside from the window. She saw vehicles approaching the museum  
and she looked shocked.

"Guys wake up now!" - Madison woke them up.

"What is happening?" - Zechariah spoke as he woke up.

"There is someone here" - Madison claimed.

"What?" - Oliver replied.

"Guys get up and grab your weapons" - Madison ordered them.

Linda approached the window and looked "Holy shit, who are these people?" - Linda asked in stress.

"I don’t know, I don’t know" - Madison replied.

They all grabbed their weapons and Madison kept looking at them from the window.

The people were in the yard looking around and they finally started to approach the museum inside.

"Okay they’re coming in" - Madison spoke.

"Oh lord what are we gonna do?" - Oliver answered in fear.

"We don’t know who these folks are or what they want. We need to be prepared in case anything goes wrong" - Madison spoke.

"Should we talk to them?" - Oliver asked.

"I don’t know, I can’t say anything because we don’t know their intentions" - Madison responded.

"We should be defensive. Let them come in and let us hide, and then we grab them when they approach us." - Linda suggested.

"Good idea Linda, we’ll do that" - Madison replied.

"Wait, where is Esther?" - Madison looked around for Esther but she was nowhere to be found.

Madison looked outside and saw that they had Esther at gunpoint.

"Oh no my baby!" - Zechariah said in shock as he too looked outside and saw Esther.

"We have to help her!" - George said in shock.

"If they harm her Imma go there and kill those bloody bastards my fucking self!" - Zechariah shouted in anger.

"Calm down Zechariah, we need to be quiet. Please for once go along with the plan" - Madison replied.

Zechariah remained quiet but at the same time nervous.

"Okay everyone hide. If anyone approaches you, grab them, don’t kill them. Just hold them hostage. Everyone understand the plan?" - Madison asked.

They all nodded.

"Good luck everybody" - Madison wished everyone luck as they took their positions and hid.

The strangers came inside the museum and all of them were well armed as they were searching the museum.

They kept searching for a while and one of the men came upstairs. And Madison surprised him from the behind and held him at gunpoint.

"Shh, don’t talk. Be quiet" - Madison held the stranger at gunpoint.

"My people will kill you if you try anything lady" - the man answered Madison.

"No one has to die if you keep your mouth shut" - Madison kept going.

"You don’t know who you’re fucking with woman, you really don’t. I suggest you surrender now. It’s you against us." - The man threatened Madison.

"You don’t know who you’re fucking with either, so if I were you I would keep my mouth shut and do as I say" - Madison threatened him back.

"Now slowly walk towards the stairs, and let us talk to your people. Move" - Madison forced the man to move towards his people while she was holding him at  
gunpoint.

The people saw Madison and the man and they all started aiming at her.

"Wow don’t shoot!" - the man warned the people to not shoot.

"I just wanna talk to you" - Madison shouted.

One man stepped forward the group and introduced himself.

"Hi there" - the man spoke.

"You have one of our people" - Madison spoke in a loud tone.

They then brought in captured Esther.

"Esther, how are you? Have these people harmed you?" - Madison asked.

Esther was shaking and did not answer.

"I don’t think she is able to answer you" - the man replied.

"What did you do to her?!" - Madison shouted.

Esther then started crying and she opened her mouth and it was bloody but she couldn’t speak because they had cut off her tongue.

"Oh my God, you people are monsters!" - Madison was left without words.

"Our people are monsters? You are a thief." - the man aggressively replied.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" - Madison wondered in anger.

"Stop pretending like you don’t know. You break into my community, steal my shit and then dare to call us monsters?" - the man replied.

"How-" - Madison was left confused.

The man interrupted Madison by showing her the letter that said "Find us at the Sonora Desert Museum" 

Madison read the letter and was left speechless.

"I’m sorry Madison" - David apologized as he came out of the kitchen.

Madison was feeling betrayed.

"David, you..." - Madison said in fury. Madison also remembered when she asked him what he was doing holding a pen when they were looting their community.

"Oh I’m sorry to hear that your friend here revealed your location, but hey, every thief has to pay for their crimes. Including you" - The man spoke.

"They got more people here" - David spoke.

"David shut the fuck up. You should bury your head in sand, shame on you" - Madison scolded David.

"I understand the frustration. But right now, you’re gonna tell your people to slowly come out and surrender, if they want this dialogue to end peacefully" - the man  
said.

Madison thought for a bit and she finally said "Guys, put your guns down and come out."

Oliver, George and Linda slowly came out with their hands up as they surrounded.

"See, there is no need for bad blood. We can work this out peacefully, if you just abide by what we say" - the man said.

"What do you want from us?" - Madison asked.

"We want you to compensate for what you’ve done" - the man replied.

"And that is?" - Madison continued.

"You will follow us in our community and you will work for us. You will obey us" - the man replied.

"We aint your slaves, we aint working for no one." - Madison replied.

"Honey, let me just shoot this bitch down. Let’s just kill them." - said a woman.

"It’s okay Jessie, we’ll work this out. No need for violence" - the man replied.

"Honey? Did you just call this man honey?" - Madison asked Jessie.

"Yeah?" - Jessie answered.

"What is your name mr?" - Madison asked the man.

"I’m glad you asked. My name is Joel, and I’m the leader of the Black Moon Order" - Joel introduced himself.

"Well Joel, I think you should keep your woman in a leash" - Madison spoke.

"What do you mean?" - Joel asked.

"Well your woman, Jessie, does immoral things behind your back." - Madison continued.

"What are you talking about?" - Jessie asked in confusion.

"For instance, she makes love to a man named Ron behind your back. Isn’t that just sad?" - Madison spilled the beans about her affair with Ron.

"What the fuck did you say you bitch?" - A shocked Ron came forward after hearing this.

Joel starred at them in shock.

"You fucking liar. Baby she’s lying, I would never do that to you. Don’t trust this liar she obviously wants to make us turn against each other." - A stressed out and frustrated Jessie denied their affair.

"Oh is that so? David, tell them. Tell them how we were hiding in the stockroom while they were having their little affair there. You can’t deny this. C’mon." - Madison  
spoke to David.

"I-" - David was left without words.

Joel looked at them in shock.

"So you see Joel, having me sneak into your camp actually resulted in something. You should be more careful, watch out who you’re trusting. Because people you  
thought loved you actually end up betraying you. And these days, you need to open your eyes like an owl and closely watch everything that goes on around you, one  
miss and that could be your ultimate end." - Madison replied with a sassy answer.

"You're a crazy woman. Baby don’t believe her, you know that’s a lie, right?" - Jessie tried to confront her husband Joel.

Joel then turned around at Ron and started to walk towards him.

"Joel please don’t" - Jessie shouted.

"Man I swear I did nothing. She's crazy, she’s trying to lure you. Don’t believe her, I swear I’m innocent, I didn’t do anything." - Ron answered in fear.

"Do you know the punishment for betrayal, Ron?" - Joel asked Ron.

"Please man I swear I’m innocent I would never betray you. I could never do such a thing"- Ron was trying to convince Joel that he was innocent.

"Answer the question Ron" - Joel demanded an answer

"Please don’t, please" - Ron started to cry out.

"Just answer the fucking question" - Joel shouted at him.

"Death. Death is the punishment for betrayal" - Ron answered out of fear.

"See, that wasn’t hard." - Joel smiled and turned around.

Ron exhaled and thought he was safe, but Joel then turned around and stabbed his stomach.

"NO!!" - Jessie shouted in fear.

Joel cut his stomach open and his guts came out as he was choking from blood as well.

Jessie would cry as the others looked in shock.

Joel cleaned his hands with a towel.

"You see madam, I don’t appreciate cheaters and traitors. I can’t afford having people like that around me. I need loyal people that will be loyal no matter what. I feed  
them, clothe them, give them shelter and this is what I get in return? Not in my world.  
Now you see that I’m very serious about all of this. Now do as we say, or I swear I will not show you any mercy." - Joel threatened Madison.

"I don’t give a shit about your mercy. If you wanted me, you could have talked to me. You cut my friend’s tongue off.. That changes everything" - Madison replied.

"This was just a warning to let you know that your actions will have consequences." - Joel replied.

"Yours will too" - Madison threatened him.

Joel smiled.

"You are a brave woman, and a tough lady with a stubborn head. You are a survivor I’ll give you that. And we are very much like, you may not see that, but I do. You  
will realize that one day. But sometimes you have to let your pride slide away and do as you’re told. You should do as I say, it is better for you and your people. If you  
want your people to live, then you will become one of us. There are no options here." - Joel spoke.

Jessie continued to weep as that annoyed Joel.

"Enough now Jessie" - Joel spoke.

But she continued to weep.

"I said enough" - Joel spoke again.

But she continued to weep.

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU BITCH!" - Joel slapped her.

Everyone looked horrified.

Jessie continued to weep.

"This is all your fault. If you hadn’t acted like a whore, none of this would have happened. You are to blame, his blood is on your hands." - An angry Joel spoke to  
Jessie.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit" - Jessie responded in anger while Joel looked at her.

"You are an evil man who treats us like shit, you make us do things for you, things that we don’t want to do. And if we disobey you, you punish us as if we were  
slaves. You pick on the weak, because you can’t fight anyone who’s strong, you are nothing but a coward.. We live in a prison, that bullshit you call community, is nothing but a prison. I loved Ron, because he treated me right and loved me, but you, you never show any love to me. You made me weep for weeks and weeks, you treat me badly. And you took my love away, I don’t want anything from you anymore. I hate you with all my soul, and so does everyone else in the community. The only reason the others do as they’re told is because they fear you, not because they love you. People talk shit behind your back all the time and you don’t even know about it. People wish for your death, because they know that you are a horrible human being and you deserve to end up dead. I’m done with you, I’m leaving. I hope karma gets you, you son of a bitch. - Jessie expressed her true feelings about Joel.

Joel was shocked to hear these words.

"You fucking slut!" - Joel starts to beat her hard.

"After all I’ve done for you, this is the words that I hear? You worthless fucking whore!" - Joel continues to beat her up.

"STOP!" - Madison shouts.

George tries to attack and stop him but a guard punches him down.

"George!" - Linda yells in stress.

Joel continues to beat her up.

"I said STOP, THAT’S ENOUGH!!" - Madison gets ready to pull the trigger on the hostage that she’s holding.

"Man listen to her, stop!" - the captive man tries to make Joel stop.

Joel finally stopped..

"And you want us to become one of you? To become part of something so evil; you are an evil man. And you are one of the bad, we are not going anywhere. I suggest  
you leave now otherwise it will get messy." - Madison warns him.

"Everything that I do, I do it for a reason. So shut up" - Joel shouted at her.

"Beating up a helpless woman is a reason for you? You coward" - Madison insulted him.

"That’s enough bullshit I’ve heard from you. Just grab them and let’s go" - Joel commands them in anger.

"Don’t come close! This is my final warning!" - Madison warns them but the guards don’t stop.

The guards keep approaching them and suddenly one of the guards is shot in the head.

They all get horrified and shocked, and they turn around and see that Zechariah shot the guard from upstairs.

"Zechariah NO-"- Madison starts to talk out of shock.

BOOM.

A guard shoots Madison on the chest as she collapses.

"’NOOO what did you do" - George shouts.

Everyone is shocked and scared. Esther starts crying out of fear and mumbles "NOOO!!’.

The beaten up Jessie looks at fallen Madison in shock and fear.

Oliver is panicked of what he just saw and grabs his head out of shock. 

David stares at Joel out of fear, and then turns around to Madison and feels guilt for betraying her.

Zechariah from upstairs looks at just what happened in shock and feels bad for Madison even though he always disliked her. 

"Madison, Madison. No no no, oh God, Oh God no" - Linda starts mumbling in distress and fear, she shakes her head in anger and she loses it.

Madison starts bleeding from her chest and she feels a huge amount of pain as she starts bleeding from her mouth non stop as well.

Linda takes out her gun and starts shouting "DIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" - As she starts shooting at the people. Madison closes her eyes and everything turns dark to her as the  
people start shooting at each other.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


End file.
